81st UTT Junior, Youth Nationals
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 2: With teams just having done with the first round in both the Junior Boys and Junior Girls sections, all group leaders kept their billing intact as they registered easy wins over their rivals on the opening day of the 81st UTT Junior and Youth Nationals at the Indoor Hall, MA Stadium here today.
The Championship was declared open by Advisor to Lt Governor Farooq Khan amid an impressive March Past presented by the contingents of various States and UTs in a colourful opening function.
With two teams from each of the eight groups in both categories slated to qualify, the top teams are expected to move into the second stage, which is the knockout. But most other teams are bound to move with full concentration to grab the second spot in respective groups, thus making the second round matches more nervy and intense.
The teams of Youth Boys and Youth Girls, who will also play two rounds today, will begin their campaign after the juniors have completed their tasks.
It was not a happy beginning for hosts Jammu and Kashmir. Their Junior Boys and Junior Girls, pitted in the last Group of H, lost their first round matches. Taking on Assam in their opening rubber, Maanay Mansotra lost to Arka Kumar Gogoi 4-11, 8-11, 11-9, 5-11. Though Maanay put up some resistance, it was not good enough to fetch them any result.
Akhilesh Khajuria, too, failed to retrieve the situation as Agniv Bhaskar Gohain of Assam downed him 11-6, 11-8, 11-3. Soon after, Zubayar and Vivek S defeated Hanumat Sharma and Saksham Verma 12-10, 12-10, 11-5 in the doubles to complete the rout. However, the J&K doubles pair managed to extend the Assam duo.
As for hosts’ girls, Bengal A proved too hot for them to handle as Munmun Kundu defeated Suhani Singh 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 and this was followed by Poymantee Baisya posting 11-4, 11-2, 11-3 win over Vidushi Gupta and, finally, Mouli Modak and Anushka Basak accounted for J&K’s doubles pair of Suhani and Vidhshi 11-3, 11-4, 11-2.
Results (Team Events):
Junior Boys (Round 1):
Group A: Delhi bt Chhattisgarh 3-0; Group B: Gujarat bt Kerala 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Andaman & Nicobar 3-0; Group C: Mizoram bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0, Tamil Nadu bt Bihar 3-0; Group D: Maharashtra A bt Pondicherry 3-0, Bengal A bt Jharkhand 3-0; Group E: Karnataka bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Haryana bt Madhya Pradesh 3-0; Group F: Telangana bt Rajasthan 3-0, Uttar Pradesh bt Meghalaya 3-0; Group G: Bengal B bt Odisha 3-0, Goa bt Chandigarh 3-1; Group H: PSPBA bt Uttarakhand 3-0, Assam bt Jammu and Kashmir 3-0.
Junior Girls (Round 1):
Group A: Maharashtra A bt Goa 3-0; Group B: Uttar Pradesh bt Kerala 3-0; Group C: Karnataka bt Uttarakhand 3-1; Group D: Delhi bt Chandigarh 3-0; Group E: Haryana bt Himachal Pradesh 3-0, Maharashtra B bt Bihar 3-0; Group F: Tamil Nadu bt Pondicherry 3-0, Bengal B bt Meghalaya 3-0; Group G: Telangana bt Chhattisgarh 3-1, Rajasthan bt Jharkhand 3-1; Group H: Assam bt Punjab 3-0, Bengal A bt Jammu and Kashmir 3-0.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
