Unheralded Rajasthan dealt a 3-1 defeat to fancied North Bengal in the opening round of the men's team preliminary group league stage of the Keventer 72nd National and inter-State table tennis here on Monday.
Rajasthan cleaned up Uttarakhand 3-0 in the second round to cement its position on top of group D standings, while North Bengal followed in the second position beating Delhi 3-0 to remain in the hunt for a pre-quarterfinal berth.
Meanwhile, the other seeded teams duly cleaned out comparatively weaker opponents.
The results (preliminary league):
Men: Second round: Group A: Petroleum bt Orissa 3-0, AP bt Meghalaya 3-0. Group B: Maharashtra ‘A' bt Karnataka 3-2; Mizoram bt Arunachal Pradesh 3-0.
Group C: West Bengal bt UP 3-0, Chandigarh bt Nagaland 3-0. Group D: North Bengal bt Delhi 3-0; Rajasthan bt Uttarakhand 3-0.
Group E: TN bt Assam 3-0; J&K bt Tripura 3-2. Group F: Haryana bt MP 3-0; Kerala bt Sikkim 3-0.
Group G: Gujarat bt Maharashtra ‘B' 3-0; Jharkhand bt Punjab 3-1. Group H: Railways bt Chhattisgarh 3-0; Bihar bt HP 3-2.
First round: Group A: Petroleum bt AP 3-0; Orissa bt Meghalaya 3-0. Group B: Maharashtra ‘A' bt Mizoram 3-0; Karnataka bt Arunachal 3-0.
Group C: West Bengal bt Chandigarh 3-0; UP bt Nagaland 3-0. Group D: Rajasthan bt North Bengal 3-1; Delhi bt Uttarakhand 3-0.
Group E: Assam bt J&K 3-0; TN bt Tripura 3-0. Group F: Haryana bt Kerala 3-0; MP bt Sikkim 3-0.
Group G: Gujarat bt Punjab 3-1; Maharashtra ‘B' bt Jharkhand 3-0. Group H: Railways bt HP 3-0; Chhattisgarh bt Bihar 3-0.
Women: Second round: Group A: Petroleum bt Chandigarh 3-0. Group B: Maharashtra ‘A' bt Rajasthan 3-0.
Group C: West Bengal bt Maharashtra ‘B' 3-0. Group D: North Bengal bt Jharkhand 3-0.
Group E: Delhi bt Kerala 3-0; Uttarakhand bt Meghalaya 3-0. Group F: TN bt Bihar 3-0.
Group G: AP bt Gujarat 3-2; UP bt Arunachal 3-0. Group H: Air India bt Punjab 3-0; Karnataka bt Tripura 3-0.
First round: Group A: Petroleum bt Chhattisgarh 3-0. Group B: Maharashtra ‘A' bt MP 3-0.
Group C: West Bengal bt HP 3-0. Group D: North Bengal bt Haryana 3-0.
Group E: Kerala bt Uttarakhand 3-0; Delhi bt Meghalaya 3-0. Group F: TN bt Assam 3-1.
Group G: Gujarat bt UP 3-0; AP bt Arunachal 3-0. Group H: Air India bt Tripura 3-0; Karnataka bt Punjab 3-0.
