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.

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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.

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