Harmeet wins double gold in Caracas WTT Feeder TT meet
Strap: grabs men’s crown, teams up with wife Krittwika to bring home mixed doubles title
Gandhidham, Nov.4 : It’s an extended Diwali celebration for Surat paddler Harmeet Desai and his family as the 31-year-old Arjuna Awardee wore not one but two gold medals around his neck at the WTT Feeder Caracas 2024 table tennis tournament organised in Caracas, Venezuela from October 31 to Nov 3.
In the summit clash of the men’s final event, world no. 90 Harmeet crushed world no. 149 Joe Seyfried of France (3-0) 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 to lay his hands on the first WTT Feeder title of his career.
With this, he became the first-ever Gujarat paddler to win a WTT Feeder title and only the third Indian paddler, after G Sathiyan and Sreeja Akula, to achieve this remarkable feat.
Earlier, Harmeet teamed up with his wife Krittwika Sinha Roy (seeded second) and upset tournament’s top seeds Jorge Campos and Daniela Carrazana of Cuba 3-2 to finish at the top rung of the podium in the mixed doubles event.
This gold happens to be the couples’ first-ever medal in an international event.
An elated Harmeet said that his hard-fought 3-2 semis victory over world no. 98 Joao Monteiro of Portugal remained the pivotal point in this tournament.
“After my fabulous semis triumph, I was confident of going all the way as I found my perfect rhythm,” India No. 1 Harmeet said.
“With the grace of God, there have been many firsts for me in the year 2024. After decades of hard work, I debuted at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Now, my first WTT Feeder title and this first gold medal with my wife Krittwika will always remain a special achievement of my career,” Olympian Harmeet signed off.
Krittwika informed that she could team up with her husband Harmeet in this tournament as his regular partner Yashaswini Ghorpade didn’t travel to Venezuela. “Since I was the only female Indian in the meet, we decided to give it a go and our strategies and coordination worked well and we are glad we won the gold medal for our country,” Krittwika, world no. 192, concluded.