New Delhi: The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board men and women beat Reserve Bank to enter the finals of the AAI 46th All India Inter-Institutional Championships at the SMS Indoor Stadium here on Monday.
But it was Airports Authority of India (AAI) who will celebrate and cherish today’s moment for a long period as the hosts and an organization proud of churning out talent for their men and women’s team entered their maiden final of an institutional event. As if this was not enough, earlier in the day their Youth Girls had retained the crown to complete the momentous occasion.
The triple achievement by AAI even brought out a lone cracker which they burst inside the arena to mark a mild merriment. On the other hand, last year’s runners-up Railways not only failed to chug along but their paddlers lost track of vision and foresight.
In other words, the PSPB men defeated RBI 3-0 and their women, who struggled before overcoming RBI 3-1, will meet hosts AAI in the two finals tomorrow.
Sushmit Sriram was the cynosure of all eyes as he completed an easy victory over Ravindra Kotiyan, their last hope and shunted Railways to the yards.
PSPB, who won 3-1, could have been staring at the wall but for Shruti Talnikar’s folly against K. Shamini. The latter escaped to win 3-2 and put PSPB 2-1 up after Pallabi Kundu had taken Madhurika Patkar to the cleaners.
Manika had put PSPB ahead with an easy 11-4, 9-11, 11-6,, 11-9 win over Shweta Parte but Madhurika’s loss of 11-2, 9-11, 11-4, 6-11, 7-11 to Pallabi really hurt them with Shamini to follow in the third singles. The former national champion led 2-0 but Shruti did well to recover and mount pressure on her rival. That she lost the decider by minimal point (4-111, 3-11, 12-10, 11-4, 9-11) is an indicator of the mental fame in which the PSPB bench was.
After Shamini won the third singles, it was business as usual for Manika to return for her reverse singles and beat Pallabi 11-5, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7 and ease the pressure.
RBI was the surprise entrants in the final last year and they had gone on to play the Nationals at Hyderabad, thanks largely to Krittiwika Sinha Roy and Shweta.
AAI women, on the other hand, were never expected to win the way they did against an experienced Air India outfit. But they did it in style, with a 3-0 victory, speaks volume of their determination and it augurs well for the institution that has recruited them.
Ayhika Mukherjee defeated with some struggle Devika Bhide 11-8, 12-10, 7-11, 4-11, 11-4 but Archana Kamath’s 11-8, 8-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-5 triumph over Mallika Bhandarkar, AI’s No. 1 player, was the real clincher as Sreeja Akula dealt with Shruti Amrute rather efficiently to seal their rival’s fate with a straight 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 win.
AAI will now have both their women and youth teams making appearance together in the Junior and Youth Nationals as well as the Senior Nationals at Manesar (Haryana).
AAI girls retain title
The supremacy of Airports Authority of India evident once again when they retained the Youth Girls trophy, beating Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) 3-1 in AAI 46th All India Inter-Institutional Championships at the SMS Indoor Stadium here this morning.
Thus the AAI girls have qualified to take the lone spot available in the Junior and Youth Nationals to be held in Gujarat in December. This will be the team’s second successive appearance in the Nationals.
In the four-team round-robin league, it was imperative for the teams to top to be able to make the cut. And the AAI girls, led by Ayhika Mukherjee, Archana Girish Kamath, Sreeja Akula, had a tough job at hand when they began the campaign yesterday. After having posted wins against the Railways and Air India, they had the toughest today against the PSPB girls who were equally good but lacked in experience.
Ayhika did the star turn for the hosts as she gave a rousing start despite being in some trouble against Varuni Jaiswal to win 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-3). Archana accounted for Amrutha Pushpak 3-1 (11-7, 11-13, 11-8, 13-11) but Sreeja Akula could not measure up to PSPB’s Yashini Sivashankar and went down 0-3 (9-11, 10-12, 1-11). However, Ayhika in her reverse singles put it beyond PSPB, in spite of dropping a game, to outwit Amrutha 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9).
AAI, which has a very good scholarship schemes, encourages young talented players before they are being pouched by others as they grow in stature. All these players who have been turning out for AAI in the last few years were recruited under one such scheme and it is paying the institution rich dividends.
Incidentally, these very girls are also competing in the women’s team event as AAI doesn’t have a separate team.
Title for PSPB boys
As for the Youth Boys title, PSPB retained it after topping with clean wins over their three other rivals while the AAI boys finished behind them and missed what could have been double. So, it will be the PSPB youth team that will compete in the December nationals in Gujarat.
In other match, AAI defeated Railway Sports Promotion Board as Ronit Bhanja, Anirban Ghosh and Shreyal Telang did well to make it a 3-0 verdict. Ronit struggled against Pankaj Kumar but managed to win 3-2 while Anirban dropped a game against Ravindra Kotiyan for a 11-5, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7 score and Sreyal beat Shivam Srivastava 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 to seal the second spot.
In the morning, the Petroleum boys defeated Air India 3-2 but it was not a convincing one. Utkarsh Gupta just about managed a game against Siddhesh Pande, reigning junior national champion, while losing the first rubber. With an unexpected start, the going became even tougher for PSPB when Abhishek Yadav lost to Sanish Ambekar 1-3.
From there the resurgence of PSPB came about as everything hinged on the next singles between Birdie Boro and Mandar Hardikar which the former won hands down. Then Utkarsh defeated Sanish 14-12, 11-5, 11-6 before Abhishek completed the task, accounting for Siddesh with a 4-11, 11-5, 11-2, 12-10 verdict to heave a sigh of relief.
The results: Team championship:
Men Semifinals: Petroleum beat Reserve Bank of India 3-0 (G. Sathiyan bt Vighney Reddy 12-10, 11-2, 11-7; A. Amalraj bt Raj Mondal 11-8, 11-9, 11-7; Harmeet Desai bt Souvik Roy 11-5, 11-4, 11-6); Airports Authority of India beat Railways 3-2 (S. Sushmit lost toAnirban Nandi 5-11, 11-13, 7-11; Anirban Ghosh lost to Ravindra Kotiyan 11-13, 9-11, 11-1, 8-11 Sarthak Gandhi bt E. Prabhakaran 11-6, 11-3, 11-4; Ghosh bt Nandi 15-13, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-6; Sushmit bt Ravindra 11-9, 13-11, 11-8).
Women: Semifinals: Petroleum beat Reserve Bank of India 3-1 (Manika Batra bt Shweta Parte 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9; Madhurika Patkar lost to Pallabi Kundu 11-2, 9-11, 11-4, 6-11, 7-11; K. Shamini bt Shruti Talnikar 11-4, 11-3, 10-12, 4-11, 11-9; Manika bt Pallabi 11-5, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7); Airport Authority of India bt Air India 3-0 (Ayhika Mukherjee bt Devika Bhide 11-8, 12-10, 7-11, 4-11, 11-4; Archana Kamath bt Mallika Bhandarkar 11-8, 8-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-5; Sreeja Akula bt Shruti Amrute
11-9, 11-8, 11-6).
Final standings:
Youth boys: 1. Petroleum, 2. Airports Authority of India, 3. Railways and 4. Air India.
Youth girls: 1. Airports Authority of India, 2. Railways, 3. Petroleum and 4. Air India.
