Haryana caused a major upset when they sent defending champions West Bengal out of competition in the 80th junior and youth National table tennis championships in Sonepat.
The 3-2 victory for Haryana came in the crucial decider when their defensive player, Anjali Rohilla made up for her first singles loss to beat Munmun Kundu 4-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-9.
Earlier, Suhana Saini had give a fine opening, beating a fighting Munmun Kundu in the first tie 11-3, 15-17, 11-7, 6-11, 11-4. But Anjali squandered the advantage losing to Poymantee Baisa in straight games of 3-11, 5-11, 7-11.
But the Haryana duo did well to strike back and win the doubles 11-9, 11-7, 11-9 against Poymantee and Munmun to go 2-1 up.
However, it was neutralized when Poymantee downed Suhana 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-3, 12-10 in another close encounter that went down to the wire.
Poymantee fought really well and after deuce in the fifth game seized the first opportunity to win it on extended points after Suhana failed to hold serve.
The Haryana girls will now take on Maharashtra A squad, which made amends beating Rajasthan 3-0 after their A and B teams in junior boys go past the last-16.
In fact, it seemed all easy for the Maharashtra A boys after Raegan Albuquerque and Chinmaya Somaiya provided a great start before West Bengal beat them 3-2, taking the last three ties.
Raegan just dropped a game against Rohan Ghosh but won 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 11-2 to put Maharashtra A ahead. Chinmaya followed him with a similar 3-1 (11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7) victory over Akash Pal. At this stage nobody would have given West Bengal a semblance of chance with Deepit R. Patil and Dev Shroff warming up for the doubles.
In the quarter-finals, West Bengal will meet North Bengal, who beat Tamil Nadu 3-1 in the pre-quarterfinals.
Results (Pre-quarterfinals):
Junior Boys: Mizoram bt Tripura 3-1, Karnataka bt Goa 3-1, Delhi bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0, Telangana bt Haryana 3-1, West Bengal bt Maharashtra A 3-2, North Bengal bt Tamil Nadu 3-1, PSPBA bt Maharashtra B 3-0, Gujarat bt Punjab 3-0.
Junior Girls: Maharashtra A bt Rajasthan 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt North Bengal 3-0, Assam bt Odisha 3-1, Karnataka bt Maharashtra B 3-1, Telangana bt Madhya Pradesh 3-1, Delhi bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0, Uttar Pradesh bt Gujarat 3-0, Haryana bt West Bengal 3-2.
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