Five-Star Jennifer hunts gold for India

By Paritosh Pramanik

WITH a whopping five gold medals, Nagpur’s international table tennis player Jennifer Varghese escorted the Indian team to the podium in the South Asian Youth Table Tennis Championship that concluded at the Dorjee Khandu Indoor Stadium in Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, on Wednesday.

An ever-improving Jennifer swept the women’s Under-15 age category, winning gold medals in singles, doubles and mixed doubles events to add to her two golds she won in Under-15 and Under-19 team events. She was the third paddler in the Under-19 team event. This was for the first time that Jennifer won five gold medals in a single international competition. Earlier, she had won three medals in the last South Asian Championship at Maldives.

The Indian Under-19 team’s gold medal winning performance fetched it a place in the Asian Table Tennis Championship which is going to be held in Doha in July.

Jennifer, who is coached by R Rajesh from Chennai, was elated with five gold medals. She said she was satisfied with her performance but added that the Asian Championship will be much tougher.

“This one (championship) wasn’t that tough. However, the Asian Championship will be much tougher with teams from China, Japan and Korea being the opponents,” Jennifer told ‘The Hitavada’ from Itanagar after the medal ceremony.

“I am extremely happy and wish to continue with the same momentum in the Asian Championship,” she added.

After helping the Under-19 Indian squad in winning the gold medal in the team event, Jennifer rallied from a game down to clinch the Under-15 singles title defeating compatriot and her doubles partner Avisha Karmarkar 3-1.

Jennifer lost the first game 14-16. But the lanky paddler bounced back to take the remaining three games 12-10, 11-8 and 11-4.

Later in the U-15 doubles, Jennifer and Avisha quelled the challenge from Nepal’s Sushmita Khadka and Subhashree Shrestha in straight games with the scores reading 11-7, 11-6, 11-5.

In the mixed doubles final, Jennifer and PB Abhinand defeated Sri Lankan pair of Mohammed Akram Md Shafiullah and Kavindya Tamadi Alagiyawadu 11-9, 12-10, 12-10 to make it a memorable day.

As expected, it was a perfect 10 for the Indian paddlers in individual events. Taking complete control of the proceedings, the hosts won all the gold medals on offer on the last day of the competition.

Besides, the Indians also bagged four silver medals in the singles. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives were also among the medals.

Lane marking at RTMNU synthetic track under way

By Paritosh Pramanik

IT IS now just a matter of time when Nagpurians would be witnessing athletes running on the synthetic athletics track of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU), Ravi Nagar. White paint was neatly being marked in a straight line on the red synthetic track as the lane marking work started on Tuesday.

Specialised workers from Malaysia are carrying out the markings and the same is expected to be completed in five-six days. After the work of sprinkling red granules completed a couple of days ago, the marking work started.

RTMNU had a budgetary allocation of around Rs 10 crore for the synthetic athletics track and the work is being carried out through the Public Works Department (PWD).

The 8-lane synthetic track also has a steeplechase pit, one discus-cum-hammer throw cage, a shot-put ring, steeplechase water barrier, pole vault boxes, take off boards and other facilities.  This will be the second synthetic athletics track of the city after the one at Divisional Sports Complex in Mankapur. After the black liquid solution spreads at the base of the track, the work of sprinkling black granules and then coating the red layer was done last week.

“Three layers of red granules were spread over the black layer on the entire track. Though rains delayed the progress a bit, the work is on schedule,” Dr Sharad Suryawanshi, Director, Department of Physical Education and Sports, RTMNU told ‘The Hitavada.’

The Poly Urithin rubber solution has been spread all over the track over which the black and red granules are spread.