PSPB women handed shock defeat in TT nationals
Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), holders of the women's title, suffered a shock 2-3 defeat at the hands of Maharashtra in the semifinals to bow out of the Senior National and Inter-state Table Tennis championships here on Wednesday.
Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), holders of the women's title, suffered a shock 2-3 defeat at the hands of Maharashtra in the semifinals to bow out of the Senior National and Inter-state Table Tennis championships here on Wednesday.
It was for the first time that PSPB lost in a semifinal. The women, however, can take heart from the fact that their men counterparts are still in contention for a medal as they take on Tamil Nadu in the final at the SAI sub-centre on Thursday.
Tamil Nadu men's team came from behind to win against Gujarat 3-2 after being down 0-2.
PSPB did not take any chance and sensibly played the experienced Achanta Sharath Kamal who defeated Eric Fernandes in straight games 12-10 11-4 11-7 in the men's event. It was left to Subhajit Saha and Soumyadeep Roy to follow suit as they comfortably foreclosed any option for the Maharashtra team.
Harikrishna beats Nyzhnyk to widen gap
Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands: Asian champion P Harikrishna put up another sterling show to beat Illya Nyzhnyk of Ukraine and stretch his lead to a full point after the end of the ninth round of the 'B' group of Tata Steel Chess Tournament on Wednesday.
Meenal, Arantxa through in billiards
Pune: Mumbai's Meenal Thakur and Pune cueist Arantxa Sanchis will face-off in the final of the ladies billiards event at the Manisha-National Billiards and Snooker Championship after posting 3-0 wins in their respective semifinals here Wednesday. Former champion Thakur made light work of I. Lahiri of Andhra Pradesh before winning her semifinal encounter 76-48, 78-17, 75-17. Arantxa defeated Karnataka's Varsha Sanjeev 77-56, 76-67, 77-31.