New Delhi: For the second consecutive day, Payas Jain ended on the losing side as he went down to Kashish Bhargava 3-4 in the quarterfinals of the Youth Boys singles in the Ping Pong Delhi State Table Tennis Ranking Tournament at the Thyagaraj Stadium here today.

Kashish Bhargava, who won 11-3, 7-11, 11-7, 11-13, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, was joined in the semifinals by Nishaad Shah, who beat Sabhay Virmani, 4-0, Himanshu Jindal, who accounted for Peeyush Prasad 11-4, 12-14, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5, and Parth Virmani who rolled over Shreyansh Goel 11-8, 11-6, 1q1-7, 11-8.

The semifinals and finals in all categories will take place on the concluding day tomorrow.

But one has to give it to both Kashish and Payas for the way they fought taking the match to the decider. It was, indeed, a nervy moment for both, especially Payas who, after making it 3-3, couldn’t press as hard as he did until then. However, Kashish was up to the task and playing a measured decisive game kept him upfront to seal his opponent’s fate rather comfortably.

The Youth Girls quarterfinal between Ishita Gupta, the favourite for title, struggle against Ridhi Sethi before the former winning it 4-2 (11-4, 11-7, 5-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5, while Vanshika Bhargava was stretched for a 11-8, 12-14, 11-7, 11-9, 19-17 win by Shristi Gupta in a thriller even as Kritika Malika blanked out Tamanna Saini 11-7, 11-9, 11-6, 11-3 and Aanchal Malhotra weathered Anubha Bajaj 11-6, 11-8, 11-5, 6-11, 11-7 for their semifinal berths.

If Ishitha, after being comfortable placed at 2-0, had to restore her pride through her fifth and sixth games for a win, it was Vanshika who was drained out by Shristi in the fourth quarterfinal. Vanshika had to bring her back into the match, thanks to her resilient mood. With a comfortable 3-2 lead, Vanshika played out of her reserves to win the sixth game after several deuces and match points. Maybe, if only Shristi had committed fewer mistakes when the opportunity presented, it could have been a different story in decider. But that was not to be.

The men’s quarterfinals saw Peeyush Prasad struggling his way into the semis with 11-6, 9-11, 11-4, 12-10, 5-11, 11-7 win, while Sabhay Virmani beat Hardik Khurana 4-1 even as Parth beat Manav Berry 4-0. But it was match between Shiven Banga and Shubh Goel that had all the trappings of another chase thriller in which Shubh emereged 7-11, 7-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7 winner. The point of interest, apart from the great fight both paddlers displayed, was the losers’ points in each game!