Archana Kamath gave a memorable account of her talent by stunning Manika Batra and Reeth Rishya to script a thrilling 3-2 victory for Airports Authority of India over holder Petroleum in the youth girls’ team championship of the Inter-institutional table tennis championship here on Tuesday.
Petroleum’s agony stood doubled when, in the youth boys’ section, Dena Bank’s Harsh Sachanandani upstaged Abhishek Yadav and Sudhandhu Grover to complete his team’s surprising 3-2 victory.
Before Archana and Harsh shared the day’s honours, Petroleum stayed on cruise mode in men’s and women’s sections, winning two matches with expected ease.
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But the day clearly belonged to 14-year-old Archana who pulled off the unexpected against two far more seasoned campaigners. Ranked 26th in the World among under-15 girls, Archana made her presence felt by beating Manika 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 to double the lead given by teammate Sreeja Akula, who overpowered Reeth 11-5, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4.
The third singles saw Petroleum reduce the lead with Senhora D’Souza beating AAI’s weak-link Maria Rony 11-6, 11-7, 11-6.
Manika returned to outplay Sreeja 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 to force the deciding rubber.
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Young Archana once again rose to the occasion. In a match that went the distance, Archana kept her composure to nail Reeth 11-3, 11-4, 5-11, 6-11, 11-9 and completed AAI’s triumph. This unexpected victory could well bring the title to AAI in this all-play-all format.
Harsh, too, had his moments as two matches involving the youth boys and girls from Petroleum followed a similar script.
Against Abhishek and Sudhanshu – both products of the Ajmer-based Petroleum Academy – Harsh proved just too good and provided the decisive difference in the match.
Harsh rallied to beat Abhishek 7-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8, 11-3 before Shreyal Telang doubled Dena Bank’s joy by stopping Sudhanshu 11-7, 11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 11-7.
Petroleum fought back through Lalrin Puia who beat Peeyush Prasad 11-3, 11-9, 11-6 and Yadav’s 4-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-4, 11-6 victory over Telang.
But in the deciding singles, Dena Bank was not to be denied as Harsh kept up the good work by ending Sudhanshu’s resistance 11-2, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8.
The results (team championship):Men: Group A: Petroleum bt Ministry of Communication 3-0; Petroleum bt BSNL 3-0; Group B: Railways bt Atomic Energy 3-0, Group C: Airports Authority bt Ordnance Factory 3-0, Group D: Central Revenue bt Defence Accounts 3-0, Central Revenue bt Canara Bank 3-0; Group E: Air India bt Reserve Bank 3-1, ESIC bt Electricity Board 3-0; Group F: LIC bt State Bank of Patiala 3-0, Audit bt Air Force 3-0, State Bank of Patiala bt Air Force 3-0.
Women: Group A: Petroleum bt Atomic Energy 3-0, Petroleum bt Audit 3-0; Group B: Airports Authority bt 3-0, Food Corporation bt LIC 3-0, Group C: Railways bt Central Revenue 3-0, Railways bt BSNL 3-0, Central Revenue bt Defence Accounts 3-1; Group D: Reserve Bank bt Air India 3-1; Dena Bank bt Ministry of Communications 3-0; RBI bt Ministry of Communications 3-0, Air India bt Dena Bank 3-2.
Youth Boys: Petroleum bt Railways 3-0, Dena Bank bt Airport Authority 3-2, Dena Bank bt Petroleum 3-2.
Youth Girls: Airports Authority bt Petroleum 3-2; Air India bt Dena Bank 3-0.