Jennifer, 13, grabs maiden U-15 national TT title

CLAIMS U-17 BRONZE AS WELL

Principal Correspondent

RISING table tennis player of city Jennifer Varghese claimed her maiden Under-15 gold in the national ranking table tennis tournament held at the Multipurpose Sports Complex in Mohali on Wednesday.

Jennifer, who claimed her maiden bronze medal in the Under-17 age category a day earlier, improved her performance in lower age category to notch up the gold medal in U-15 age group in the TTFI organised meet. In the final, the city lass, representing Maharashtra, defeated Sandika Bhattacharjee of Bengal 4-2 (11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6).

Jennifer, the 2019 Cadet Nationals champion, made a bright opening against second seed Sandika. However, the West Bengal girl staged a nice comeback to lead 2-1. Undeterred, the lanky Nagpur girl fought well to thwart the initial threat from her opponent, taking the next three games. But it was not before winning the fourth game on extended points.

According to reports, the fourth game gave Jennifer confidence and brought some sanity to the haphazard game plan she dished out in the previous two games. By the time the fifth game began, the match was going only one way.

Earlier in the semi-finals, Jennifer thrashed M Hansini of Tamil Nadu 11-5, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7 while Bhattacharjee got the better of Sayani Panda 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 12-14, 11-6, 11-7.

Jennifer Varghese, seeded fourrth, outplayed the top-seed Tamil Nadu paddler Hansini 4-1. 

The Tamil Nadu girl was visibly hampered and could not come to terms with Jennifer’s attacking approach. Hansini did take a game off her rival, but it was too little and too late, reported TTFI.

In the quarter-finals, Jennifer defeated Nandini Saha of Bengal 11-5, 11-7, 12-10, 10-112, 9-11, 11-1 to continue her march.

A day earlier, Jennifer had to be content with a bronze medal in the Under-17 singles category. Jennifer stunned several top-rated players on her way to winning her first national medal in the Under-17 age category.

Jennifer shocked second-seeded and Delhi’s top-ranked Lakshita Narang in the pre-quarterfinal.

At Mohali, unseeded Jennifer outlasted Karnataka’s Sahana Murthy and then posted a fighting 3-2 win over Haryana’s Gargi Dangi in the second round to set up a clash against Delhi’s second-seeded Lakshita.

Jennifer created a flutter as she stunned the second seed player in the pre-quarterfinal with a 3-2 verdict. In the seven-game quarter-final, the Nagpur girl demolished Bengal’s Srijita Shaw Bengal 4-1 to assure herself a medal by making it to the semi-finals.

She, however, went down fighting against Tamil Nadu’s Kavyasree Baskar in the semis.

https://www.thehitavada.com//Encyc/2021/10/28/Jennifer-13-grabs-maiden-U-15-national-TT-title-CLAIMS-U-17-BRONZE-AS-WELL.html