Quarter Finals

The first indoor game in the League of Titans drew the attention and interest as was
expected. Despite of their busy schedule, people turned up in huge numbers to witness
the game of hand-eye coordination and good reflexes. The tournament was scheduled
to be held at the J-Block basement and was the first one which had participation from
girls.

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Quarter Final 1: B2 (II) vs B3 (I)

Match 1: Ganesh B2 (II) vs Prateek B3 (I)
5-11, 11- 2, 12- 10, 10- 12, 13- 11
Of the 5 matches that were scheduled between the teams, the strongest players were
the first one to play. The match started at an equal pace with both the players
matching each other’s shots. ‘Play safe’ was the mantra that was adopted by both the
players as there was only an occasional aggressive hit in between. After the first two
sets were taken up by each of the players, Prateek despite of leading in the 3rd set,
started showing signs of nervousness. Ganesh took complete advantage of this and
took the 3rd set with a forehand smash. It was an evenly contested game but in the
end, the cool headed Ganesh was at the winning end.

Match 2: Seemant B2 (II) vs Suresh B3 (I)
11-9, 3-11, 8-11, 6-11
The second match saw lots and lots of unforced errors and it seemed that B2’s
Seemant and B3’s Suresh were short of match practice. However, it was Suresh who
won the 4-setter match despite of losing the 1st set. Seemant was unable to find his
rhythm back once the 2nd set was comprehensively won by Seemant.

Match 3: Ritesh B2 (II) vs Sushant B3 (I)
9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-5
The third match was, by far, the most exciting one between the two teams. B2’s
Ritesh and B3’s Sushant gave the audience a run for their money. Almost each point
had long volleys and the score line also speaks volumes about this fact. Starting with
Sushant, both players won alternate sets.

Match 4: Priya B2 (II) vs Rekha B3 (I)
11-8, 11-13, 4-11, 6-11
The first female participants in the quarter finals were B2’s Priya and B3’s Rekha.
The B3 team were hoping to enter the semi without needing to play a doubles match
and thats exactly what happened. Despite of Priya winning the first set and giving a
tough fight in the 2nd, Rekha comfortably won the match in 4 sets and confirmed B3’s
entry into the semis.

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Quarter Final 2: B3 (II) vs IB (II)
Match 1: Sahil B3 (II) vs Abhinav IB (II)
11-8, 13-15, 7-11, 12-14
If someone asks you who the most popular player in PING PONG is, just tell him that
its B3 team’s Sahil. The audiences cheered him for each and every hit and, at the
same time, he was being sarcastically cheered for the odd mis-hits as well. His
competitor was cool headed Abhinav from the IB (II) team. Sahil dominated the first
set and deservingly won it. However, Sahil was trying a bit too hard and that lead to
committing of unforced errors. Both the players were head to head all the way until
Sahil lost his cool and tried to go for the kill. As the match progressed, the enthusiasm
level and participation level of audience were increasing exponentially. The race
continued till the 4th set when Abhinav, because of his cool headedness, walked away
with 3 sets.

Match 2: Alok B3 (II) vs Santosh IB (II)
1-11, 4-11, 6-11
Its not very often that you witness a one sided affair in the quarter finals. The 2nd
match of the 2nd quarter final was one of those few occasions. IB’ Santosh was
playing as if it was a walk in the park for him. The only noteworthy thing was that
although Alok lost the 3 successive sets, he kept reducing the difference with each
set.

Match 3: Apoorv B3 (II) vs Amalendu IB (II)
11-6, 11-6, 11-8
The third match saw the usual trend. It had more to do with the mind games than the
physical game. At first, it seemed that IB’s Amalendu will make the ‘smart’ player
Apoorv (B3) work hard to win the match. However, the difference between the skill
level of Apoorv and Amalendu was clearly showing. Apoorv started the proceedings
by quickly running away with the first 2 sets. He carried his form to the next set and
despite of some quality show from Amalendu, he comfortably took the 3rd one as
well.

Match 4: Richa B3 (II) vs Akanksha IB (II)
11-2, 11-2, 11-4
The IB team were hoping to wrap up the quarter final with a win in this match.
However, the B3 team had some other ideas. They wanted the match to go to the final
decider, that is, the men’s doubles and guess what-they hardly took any time to do
this. B3’s Richa proved too much for IB’s Akanksha as she was more confident and
physically active. The scoreline itself speaks volumes about the match.

Match 5: Sahil/ Apoorv B3 (II) vs Amelendu/ Santosh IB (II)
4-11, 12-14, 11-5, 13-11, 11-4
From 2 matches down to 2-2, the B3 team was high on confidence after coming back
into the match when many have written them off. What followed was one of the most
spectacular matches. Sahil and Apoorv were representing B3 on one side and
Amelendu and Santosh were there IB at the other end. The IB team were dominant
from the word go with both the players working in perfect synchronization. They took
the first set comfortably. The second set saw the lead going from one team to another
in a see-saw manner but finally, it was the IB team who took it away. B3 team
certainly knew how to come from behind and they showed it in the last match as well.
Sahil looked like a man with the mission and with a volley of smashes and smart
plays with Apoorv, it was all down to the final set where, it seemed, that Amalendu
has taken all the pressure over his head when he missed 2 MATCH POINTS and
presented the game to the opposition.
The match was keenly contested, but played in a very friendly atmosphere, and both
teams had plenty to smile about afterwards.

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Quarter Final 3: A1 (I) vs IB (I)
Match 1: Kaushik A1 (I) vs Bhuvan IB (I)
6-11, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11
“Battle of the hooters” would be the apt name for this match. The J-Block basement
was clearly divided into two groups. One was supporting the junior A1 team and the
other were cheering for the junior IB. There was one more match that was going on,
in which Bhuvan of IB walked away with a comfortable victory over his opponent,
A1’s Kaushik. It took time for Bhuvan to find his rhythm but once he did that, he did
not face much trouble. Both the players played defensively and waited patiently for
the other to commit mistake. So, in the end, there was very little difference between
the winner and the loser as is clear from the scoreline.

Match 2: Alok A1 (I) vs Gagan IB (I)
8-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7
The second match saw two of the most “professional” players facing each other. Each
team was confident that their respective player is going to win the match. It has to be
a 5-setter and a game where composure of the players was tested, along with the
number of tricks that they are carrying in their pockets. In the first two games, both
did not let their emotions out. However, temperatures started to rise after a volley of
shots and smashes from Gagan. He won the 3rd set and was leading in the 4th berore
Alok, showing no signs of nervousness whatsoever, won 4 consecutive points and put
pressure on Gagan which made him to crumble in the last set as well. Both the players
made the game of Table Tennis look very easy but that, actually, is not the case,
specially when you are made to stand in front of an over energetic audience.

Match 3: Lovneesh A1 (I) vs Nikhil IB (I)
11-9, 7-11, 11-3, 8-11, 7-11
rd
The 3 match was played between Lovneesh(A1) and Nikhil(IB). There weren’t
many problems for Lovneesh winning the first set. It was like ‘just another game’.
However, he founded almost half of his serves kissing the net in the subsequent 2 sets.
He somehow managed to lose his rhythm and Nikhil did not miss the opportunity and
presented Lovneesh with a volley of smashes resulting in a 5-setter win over
Lovneesh. This was the match that A1 team was thinking that they should have won.

Match 4: Divya A1 (I) vs Anjuman IB (I)
11-9, 11-8, 11-6
th
Not much to write about the 4 match. A1’s Divya seemed to be the only girl to have
played the game of Table Tennis before coming to IMT and for the good of the game,
she was given a decent fight from IB’s Anjuman. The difference between the rookie
player and Divya was clearly seen and the latter won comfortably in straight sets.

Match 5: Alok and Lovneesh A1 (I) vs Bhuvan and Gagan IB (I)
11-8, 11-8, 11-3
It all boiled down to the last match, the men’s doubles. With Alok and Lovneesh on
one side and Bhuvan and Gagan on the other, the crowd was expecting some
fireworks, and the players did not disappoint them. The players were quickly
capitalizing on their opponents mistakes and there was very little to choose between
the two sides until Alok and Lovneesh took a break and made a specific strategy
against their 2 counterparts. This, combined with the ‘mysterious’ serves of Alok’s
meant that any hopes of IB’s entry to the semis were all but gone.

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Quarter Final 4: A2 (II) vs HR/IT (I)
Match 1: Vishal Mehra A2 (II) vs Prakhar HR/IT (I)
9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8
The first match set the tone for this hard fought QF matchup. Great crowd support for
both the teams added to the intense competition and quality of sport per se. Prakhar
got the first point of the match after Vishal hit his shot out. Then both players
matched each shot after shot. In the first set, Vishal came back 6-9 down to level it at
9-9, but Prakhar eventually got the first set 11-9. Vishal was more consistent in the
second set and raced to a 6-2 lead in no time, eventually wrapping the set at 11-7. The
third set added more twist to the match with Prakhar winning it at 11-9. The TT table
was now looking like a battleground with both camps’ supporters involved in
aggressive hooting, which once led to a heated argument between the two camps.
Back to the match and Prakhar quickly raced to a 4-0 lead. Vishal showed grit to
come back at 6-6 and won the set 11-9 to take the match into the fifth and deciding
set. With no player showing great character and skill, this was easily the most hard
fought set of the match. Vishal led 6-2 at a point but then a lot of rallies and powerful
shots saw Prakhar closing the gap and trailing 8-6. But it came a little late as Vishal
took the next three points and sealed the match at 11-8 in the final set.

Match 2: Ramesh Mathpal A2 (II) vs Nishant HR/IT (I)
3-11, 5-11, 3-11
A stark contrast from the previous match, it proved to be a one-sided affair. Ramesh
started with hitting his first few shots out which saw Nishant cruise to a 5-1 lead and
before we could realise, the first set was wrapped up at 11-3. The second and third
sets saw Nishant finding his groove and hitting some powerful shots to overshadow
his opponent to take the next two sets 11-5 and 11-3 and thereby sealing the match.

Match 3: Manish Puri A2 (II) vs Ravish HR/IT (I)
11-8, 10-12, 11-4, 8-11, 14-12
What a match! Easily the best match of the tournament so far. Both players showed
immaculate skills and precision to hit those powerful shots with pinpoint accuracy.
Manish made his intentions clear by opening the scoring with a thunderous shot and
cruised to an early 3-1 lead. Ravish could not recover from the initial setback and
despite some powerful shots, lost the first set 8-11. In the second set, some unforced
errors by Manish and a great backhand by Ravish saw him take the score to 6-6.
Ravish carried on with the momentum and won the second set 12-10. In the third set,
it was Ravish’s turn to make mistakes, which saw him trailing 1-5. There was a slight
interruption when both the teams started discussing strategies and crowd chanting the
name “Puri, Puri”. Manish quickly wrapped up the third set 11-4. The fourth set was
again very hard fought with less unforced errors. At 7-7, Ravish hit a marvellous shot
which took the score to 8-7, and eventually won the set at 11-8. The fifth and final set
was the best in terms of quality and skills on show. Trailing 2-5, Ravish brought on
his ‘A’ game and levelled it at 9-9 with some exquisite and powerful shots. Matching
each other shot by shot, the players showed no signs of fatigue. Going into this final
set, the energy levels of both the crowd and players were at its peak, with both camps
cheering for their players so loudly that the referee had to intervene many times to
calm the crowd. The set went till third deuce. At match point at 12-11, Manish hit
four powerful shots in the same point, all of them amazingly returned by Ravish-shot
for shot, and the resilient Ravish saved the match point. This point got a deserving
standing ovation and cheers from the crowd for both the players. The match had an
ironic end when after so many wonderful shots, it ended when a shot by Manish just
brushed the table. Manish won the final set 14-12.

Match 4: Uma Aiyer A2 (II) vs Neha Jain HR/IT (I)
11-7, 11-4, 11-4
This was again a mismatch. The first point of the match was won by Neha, but from
there, it was one way traffic. Uma started to dominate and won the first set 11-7. In
the second, Neha tried to make a match of it, but to no use. Eventually, Uma won the
next two sets both 11-4. It meant that A2