Gujarat reached the Youth Boys quarter-finals in the Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships at the Sidhu Kanu Indoor Stadium in Durgapur on Friday.
They beat Mizoram 3-2 as Ishaan Hingorani dug deep after Manush Shah failed to win his reverse singles against Lalhunhlua. It was he who made a bright opening for Mizoram when he defeated Ishaan Hingorani 7-11, 11-8, 11-3, 5-11, 11-8. But Manush restored parity with an easy 11-4, 11-7, 11-5. Then Gujarat strengthened their grip when Kaushal Bhatta beat Lalroulahpuia 11-8, 11-6, 11-5. Things went in favour of Gujarat until then but Manush lost to Lalhunhlua 6-11, 10-12, 8-11 to give Mizoram a semblance of chance. Ishaan, however, ensured that Gujarat sailed into quarters without any further hiccups, beating his rival Lalruatsanga 14-12, 11-5, 11-6.
In Youth Girls, Reserve Bank of India struggled past Delhi 3-2. In other Junior Boys matches, Maharashtra B boys struggled past Karnataka 3-2, North Bengal was taken the full distance by Punjab before the former won 3-2.
In the Junior Girls, Madhya Pradesh downed Maharashtra A 3-1 as the latter failed to put up any resistance in the pre-quarterfinals.