Ankita

Calcutta: Defending champions India thrashed Nepal 3-0 in boys’ and girls’ sections of the SAIL South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Sunday.

In the boys’ section, top ranked Indian paddler Aniket Koparkar beat 11-9, 11-8, 11-4 Ajay Suwal of Nepal. Sanil Shetty defeated Amarlal Malla 11-4, 11-8, 11-9 before Koparkar teamed up with Devesh Karia to oust Suwal and Deep Saun 11-4, 11-2, 11-6 to seal the group A tie for India.

In the girls’ section, Neha Aggarwal trounced Nepal’s Kamala 11-5, 11-3, 11-4. Then K. Shamini took off from where Aggarwal left to beat Swechchha Nambang 11-9, 11-6, 11-4 to give India a 2-0 unassailable lead.

The doubles combination of Aslesha Bodas and Shamini kept the slate clean wrapping up the tie against Kamala and Swechchha 11-4, 11-4, 8-11, 11-5.

The boys and girls from Pakistan and Sri Lanka also entered the last four, as they pounded minnows Maldives in group encounters.

In boys’ group B encounters, Sri Lanka and Pakistan thrashed Maldives by identical 3-0 margins.

In cadet girls singles section, India’s Ankita Das, Shreya Ghosh and Shruti Tanlnekar sailed into the semi-final.

Ankita prevailed 11-9, 8-11 11-5 11-2 over Nepal’s Kamla Pokherel, while Shreya got past Maldives’ Mariam Sana 11-8, 11-6, 11-8 in quarter finals. Shruti had little difficulty in showing the door to Lankan paddler Shruti Talnekar.