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Top teams cruise ahead on Day II

By SPORTS REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Feb 11 � With no major upsets today, all the leading teams moved ahead in the team championship in the ongoing OIL 71st Senior National and Inter State Table Tennis Championship at the Tarun Ram Phookan Indoor Stadium here on the second day of the seven-day championship, organised by the Assam Table Tennis Association.

Defending champions PSPB men went through to the semifinals with a facile 3-0 victory against Assam. Sarath Kamal beat Anal Kashyap 11-7, 10-12, 11-3, 11-5, Jubin Kumar beat Saidul Alam Ahmed 11-7, 12-10, 11-5, Sumadeep Roy beat Kaushik Phukan 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10.

In the women�s section, West Bengal defeated Tamil Nadu to enter into the semifinals. Kritika S Roy of Bengal went down to AV Nivedita 5-11, 6-11, 11-8, 3-11.

In the other singles, Mausum Das beat N Arun Salvi 11-9, 11-8, 11-5, while, Pallavi Kundu downed Sneha BV 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4. In the last singles, Mausum beat Nivedita 11-2,11-8, 11-9.

In the men�s category, Haryana, Dena Bank, Gujarat, Maharashtra A, West Bengal and North Bengal also made it to the quarterfinals.

On the other hand, PSPB, Kerala, Maharashtra A, Gujarat, Indian Railways and North Bengal women entered the last-eight stage.

Earlier, Assam upset Tamil Nadu in the men�s team championship with a 3-0 victory in a Group H match. Assam also defeated Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh to top the group.

Anal Kashyap won two matches against G Vinod and RS Raja, while Saidul Alam Ahmed beat G Vinod. Anal beat Vinod 11-5, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7 and downed Raja 11-5, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6. Saidul beat Vinod 13-11, 11-13, 9-11, 13-11, 11-8.

In the pre-quarterfinal knock-out encounter, Assam got the better of Orissa 3-0. Anal Kashyap beat Asif Haque 11-2, 11-7, 11-4, while Saidul Alam Ahmed rallied to down Tousif Haque 10-12, 11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 11-6. In the third singles, Kaushik Phukan had to struggle to beat DD Mohanty 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-3.

However, the Assam women�s team was eliminated from the championship despite their victory against Gujarat in the Group G league match. Sanjana Sarma beat Shilpi 11-9, 11-7, 11-4, while Murchana Gohain downed Iti Sarma 11-3, 12-10, 11-6, 11-5. In the third match, Kakoli Lahkar beat Iti Sarma 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 to complete the rout.

The team event�s semifinals will be played tomorrow along with the open events which will start with doubles competitions.

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