PANAJI
Goa's Cadets Boys team spearheaded by India No 2 Shantesh Mapsekar stormed into the quarter-finals registering a thumping 3-0 win over North Bengal in the 79th Cadet and Sub-Junior Nationals & Inter-State Table Tennis Championships 2017 being held at the SP Mukherjee Stadium, Goa University, Taleigao.
The championship, organised by Goa Table Tennis Association in collaboration with the Sports Authority of Goa and powered by 11Sports, witnessed enthralling matches with the other host teams, Cadets Girls, Sub Junior Boys and Sub Junior Girls, all qualifying to the knock-out stage by winning their round 3 league matches.
However, they could not progress beyond, losing to their higher ranked opponents. In the pre-quarterfinals, Goa lost 3-0 to Gujarat in Cadet Girls, 3-0 to Maharashtra A in Sub Junior Boys and 3-0 to Telengana in Sub
Junior Girls.
In Cadets Boys pre-quarterfinals, Goa's Aarav Aiyar gave the host team a 1-0 lead defeating Soumyadeep Neogi 3-2 (11-9, 11-3, 7-11, 10-12, 11-8). Shantesh Mapsekar made it 2-0 for Goa defeating Saikat Sutradhar 3-1 (11-13, 11-5,
11-7, 11-4).
Shantesh and Aarav then combined to make it 3-0 for the hosts, coming back from two sets down to beat Soumyadeep Neogi/Saikat Sutradhar 3-2 (7-11, 11-13, 11-8, 11-4, 11-3).
Goa Cadets Boys will be up against Kerala for a place in the semi-finals. Tamil Nadu will play Maharashtra A, PSPB A will meet Delhi and West Bengal will meet Karnataka in the other Cadets Boys quarter-finals.
