Assam girls put Kerala on mat, face first-stage elimination

The win over Kerala may not have put Assam in an invincible position, but it has more or less spelt doom for Kerala, who had beaten Goa 3-0 earlier in the day. With only two teams qualifying from each group for the main draw, which is the pre-quarterfinals, the chance of Kerala looks bleak at this juncture, though they have a match against North Bengal.

Not only Kerala must beat them but do so convincingly, possibly a 3-0 win, to remain in contention for the second stage. Goa is the other team in group D and they were earlier defeated 3-0 by Kerala.

Incidentally, Kerala had entered the semifinals in the last edition of the championships at Alleppey. But, today, they not failed to replicate that performance but are at the danger of being eliminated at the group stage itself. At the present moment, North Bengal with two wins have almost sealed their place in the pre-quarterfinals.

Kerala have to blame their players for inflicting the misery upon them, particularly Seraha Jacob, who lost both her singles. In comparison, Maria Rony won both her singles and kept things alive, despite Assam leading 2-0 after the doubles win.

Renuka Aswani fought well but lost to Adrija Sarmah 3-11, 8-11, 11-9,1-8, 6-11 and it was left to Maria to level the score. She struggled before beating Kritika Upadhya 11-7, 4-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-4.

Now the ball was in Seraha’s court. But her opponent, Jitakhee Mazumdar, played not only well but breathed fresh life into the team with a 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5 verdict. The Kerala girl, on the other hand, was making far too many mistakes both at the net as well not able to keep the ball on table.
Earlier, Gujarat rued the unavailability of Chipia Frenaz who is turning out for the Airports Authority of India as Gujarat lost their first round match to Uttar Pradesh 2-3. Simialarly Karnataka’s loss of Shreyal Telang and Akshay Mahanta, who are playing for Dena Bank, upset their balance.

Yet, they managed to put it across Telangana 3-2 in a tough first-round Youth Boys event.

In Junior Girls, Telangana beat North Bengal with Varuni Jaiswal and Nina pitching in and interestingly Kerala managed to cross the Odisha hurdle with a 3-2 verdict in the first round. Odisha, despite losing, stood tall thanks to Ananya Basak who won both her singles.

But what made the difference was Kerala’s doubles win, paired by Gia Anna George and Nandini Menon. Andhra Pradesh’s doubles pair of Shailu Noorbasha and B. Nagasravani helped their team beat Madhya Pradesh 3-2 in the first round.

As for Junior Boys, Uttar Pradesh upstaged Tamil Nadu 3-0. It was surprising to see Tamil Nadu surrender meekly despite Ananth Devarajan’s presence. Not only did he lose his singles but also the crucial doubles when he combined with team mate Sachin Viswanath Sivaramakrishnan to draw a blank on the score-sheet. However, Gujarat boys made amends for their Youth Girls loss with a 3-2 verdict over Jharkhand.
Results:
Youth Girls (1st round): AAI bt Uttrakhand 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Telangana bt Odisha 3-0, Kerala bt Goa 3-0, North Bengal bt Assam 3-1, UP bt Gujarat 3-2, Meghalaya bt Chandigarh 3-1, Rajasthan bt Andhra Pradesh 3-1, Karnataka bt Jharkhand 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Chhattisgarh 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Bihar 3-0, West Bengal bt Punjab 3-0.
2nd round: Assam bt Kerala 3-2, AAI bt Pondicherry 3-0, Maharashtra A bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0, Telangana bt Haryana 3-0, North Bengal bt Goa 3-0, Gujarat bt Chandigarh 3-0, Uttar Pradesh bt Meghalaya 3-1, Delhi bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0, Rajasthan bt Jammu & Kashmir 3-0, Karnataka bt Maharashtra B 3-2, Chhattisgarh bt Jharkhand 3-1, West Bengal bt Tamil Nadu 3-1, Punjab bt Bihar 3-0.
Youth Boys (1st round): Punjab bt Kerala 3-1, Maharashtra A bt Chhattisgarh 3-0, Delhi bt Bihar 3-0, Andhra Pradesh bt Meghalaya 3-1, Karnataka bt Telangana 3-2, Mizoram bt Tripura 3-0, Dena Bank bt Goa 3-0, Haryana bt Jharkhand 3-1, Rajasthan bt Odisha 3-0, Gujarat bt Pondicherry 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Madhya Pradesh bt Jammu & Kashmir 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Uttarakhand 3-0, West Bengal bt Chandigarh 3-0.
Junior Girls (1st round): Telangana bt North Bengal 3-2, Maharashtra A bt Goa 3-0, Kerala bt Odisha 3-2, Maharashtra B bt Haryana 3-1, Karnataka bt Chandigarh 3-0, Andhra Pradesh bt Madhya Pradesh 3-2, Assam bt Jharkhand 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Punjab bt Chhattisgarh 3-0, West Bengal bt Jammu & Kashmir 3-0, Uttar Pradesh bt Bihar 3-0. 
Junior Boys (1st round): Maharashtra A bt Bihar 3-0, Delhi bt Punjab 3-0, PSPBA bt Haryana 3-0, West Bengal bt Pondicherry 3-0, Chandigarh bt Meghalaya 3-1, Gujarat bt Jharkhand 3-2, Maharashtra B bt Odisha 3-0, Telangana bt Goa 3-0, Himachal Pradesh bt Uttarakhand 3-2, Kerala b Andhra Pradesh 3-0, Rajasthan bt Jammu & Kashmir 3-0, Uttar Pradesh bt Tamil Nadu 3-0, Madhya Pradesh bt Chhattisgarh 3-1.