Nidhi Prajapati, Pratha Pawar stars as upset wins mark the day
SBI Gujarat State & Inter-District Table Tennis Championship-2021
GANDHIDHAM, Aug 28: Nidhi Prajapati and Pratha Pawar scripted two major surprises as upset wins marked the third day of the SBI Gujarat State & Inter-District Table Tennis Championship on Saturday.
Ahmedabad’s Nidhi Prajapati showed impressive resilience and fighting spirit as the unseeded youngster came from two games down to beat sixth seed Rutva Kothari of Bhavnagar 9-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7, 12-10, 7-11, 11-4 in their Junior Girls’ (U-17) quarter-final match in what could be termed as the most exciting match of the day at the Late M.P. Mittra Indoor Stadium, Haresh Sangtani Sports Complex in Adipur, Gandhidham.
Earlier in the pre-quarters, Nidhi recorded the biggest upset of the day as she came from a game down to outwit second seed Riya Jayswal of Bhavnagar 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6.
Nidhi’s teammate Pratha came into the limelight with an 11-8, 11-9, 11-3 win over seventh seed Bhairavi Mistry of Bhavnagar in the pre-quarters.
Pratha, who had won the under-13 crown on Friday, then shocked the fourth seed Khushi Jadhav 11-9, 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 in the quarters to seal a last four berth.
Top seed Milli Tanna of Surat stayed on course as she defeated Siddhi Bulasara of Navsari 11-8, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9 while third seed Arnee Parmar of Surat, who was the winner of the under-15 crown, defeated the unseeded Moubini Chatterjee of Ahmedabad 11-4, 11-5, 12-10, 11-9 in other quarter-final matches.
Interestingly, Moubini had beaten fifth seed Krisha Raval of Surat 11-4, 11-1, 11-6 earlier in the pre-quarters.
Meanwhile, there were hardly any surprises in the Junior Boys’ (U-17) pre-quarters with top seed Shlok Bajaj of Surat made a short work of unseeded Sumit Nair of Ahmedabad for an 11-4, 11-2, 11-2 win while third seed Harsh Patel of Ahmedabad beat Baroda’s Samarth Shekhawat 11-9, 11-7, 11-5.
Fourth seed Shlok Malpani of Surat too had a comfortable 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 win over Aravalli’s Harshvardhan Patel while fifth seed Arman Shaikh came from a game down to beat Aravalli’s Janmejay Patel 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7.
In the other pre-quarters tie, Surat’s Aayush Tanna twice came from behind to record a 5-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5 win over
Bhavnagar’s Sahil Makwana.
TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP RETURNS
While the Team Championship was stalled by the COVID-19 sure, the marquee event is back in the fray with Ahmedabad taking the top spot in the Men’s category.
In the official opening ceremony of the tournament, title sponsored by State Bank of India, co-sponsored by WinWin Maritime Limited and supported by the Sports Authority of Gujarat and Kachchh District Table Tennis Association, the draws for the team event were announced with Ahmedabad, Surat and Navsari will battle it out in group A.
Group B will see second seed Bhavnagar facing the likes of Rajkot, Porbander and Aravalli while Group C will see third seed Vadodara will vie for the top spot with Kachchh, Anand and Valsad.
In the Women’s draw, top seed Surat will head Group A where they will face the likes of Vadodara, Kachchh and Anand. Group B will see second seed Bhavnagar battle it out against Ahmedabad, Navsari and Rajkot.
In the Junior Boys’, top seed Ahmedabad was placed along with Porbander and Aravalli in Group A while Group B will see second seed Surat, Rajkot and Anand. Group C will have third seed Bhavnagar, Vadodara, Kachchh and Valsad.
Meanwhile, in the Junior Girls’, top seed Surat will face Ahmedabad and Anand in Group A while second seed Bhavnagar will lock horns against Vadodara and Navsari in Group B.