Gujarat Junior Boys Team enters final at Jammu Nationals

For second consecutive year Gujarat made it to the finals of the Junior Boys Team event with an emphatic win over Mizoram at the ongoing 81st Junior and Youth National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships at Jammu. Two Amdavadis – Dhairya Parmar and Chitrax Bhatt – were the heroes of Gujarat’s win on Wednesday.

Last year led by Manush Shah of Vadodara, Gujarat had silver medal at the Sonepat meet.

Dhairya Parmar gave Gujarat a winning start when he beat higher ranked Himnakulhpuingheta Jeho 11-6 11-8 8-11 7-11 11-7. After the second game the team score read 1-1 as Chitrax Bhatt went down to Lrruata Alberto 4-11 8-11 9-11.

Mizoram made it 2-1 when Jeho and Alberto won the doubles match against Chitrax and Dhairya with a 8-11 11-7 11-3 6-11 11-7 scoreline.

Down 1-2, and having lost two matches in a row, Chitrax had monkey on his back. But the young paddler known for his grit fought back in the reverse singles. Chitrax showed a lot of character as he crushed Jeho, who has represented India in the World Junior Circuit, 11-6 11-9 11-3 to make it 2-2.

In the final rubber, Dhairya played his natural attacking game giving his opponent Alberto no room with some clinical forehand and back hand winners. Dhairya triumphed 11-8 8-11 11-6 11-7.

Other members of the team are Harshil Kothari of Bhavnagar and Abhilash Raval of Ahmedabad.

Earlier in Pre-Quarterfinals Gujarat blanked Chhattisgarh. Dhairya struggled but won the opener against Rajiv Sahu 12-10 9-11 13-15 11-5 11-5. Chitrax made it 2-0 when he overcame Rohan Lalwani 11-5 11-9 9-11 11-7. Combined effort of Chitrax and Dhairya in the doubles was too strong for Rohan-Rajiv as the Gujarat pair recorded straight game 11-6 11-6 11-5 win.

In quarterfinals, Gujarat outplayed Karnataka by same margin as Chhatisgarh – 3-0.

Tomorrow in the finals Gujarat will play against Delhi