Hosts Manipur ease into finals of the 68th National School Games Sepaktakraw for U-17 boys & girls and U-19 boys

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Apr 19 : Hosts Manipur are in the finals of the 68th National School Games Sepaktakraw for U-17 boys & girls and U-19 boys being underway at Khuman Lampak Indoor Stadium.
The State U-17 boys will play Bihar in the title clash tomorrow evening while U-17 girls will play Assam in the title clash. Both the matches begin at 4 pm. Manipur will meanwhile take on Odisha in the final of the U-19 boys' competition from 4.45 pm.
U-17 Boys
Manipur breezed past Tamil Nadu by 15-5, 15-10 sets in the first quarterfinal match this morning before defeating Uttar Pradesh 15-9, 15-4 in the semi-final encounter.
Bihar meanwhile eased 15-4, 15-7 past Gujarat in the second quarterfinal match earlier in the day before edging out Nagaland 9-15, 15-6, 15-13 in the second semi-final match to complete the final line up.
In other two quarterfinal matches staged earlier in the day, Nagaland defeated Maharashtra 15-6, 15-7 and Uttar Pradesh beat Andhra Pradesh 15-13, 15-10 to make their places in the semi-finals.
U-17 Girls
Manipur U-17 girls in the meantime reached the final with a 15-7, 15-6 win over Andhra Pradesh in the first semi-final match today before Assam defeated Nagaland by 2-1 sets (8-15, 15-6, 15-7) in the second semi-final match.
U-19 Boys
Manipur reached the U-19 boys final today with a 15-5, 15-5 win over Maharashtra in a semi-final match this afternoon after Odisha outlasted Kerala 15-8, 15-10.
Earlier in the day, Manipur sealed their place in the semi-final with a 15-6, 15-10 quarterfinal win over Uttar Pradesh while Odisha edged out Bihar 13-15, 17-15, 17-15 in a closely fought quarterfinal match.
In other quarterfinal matches, Maharashtra defeated Madhya Pradesh 15-7, 15-7 and Kerala defeated Tamil Nadu 15-10, 15-6.
In the hard line match staged later in the day, Maharashtra  fought back to defeat Kerala by 2-1 sets (4-15, 15-4, 17-8).