Maharahtra’s Diya Chitale crowned herself in glory by claiming a grand double, winning the Sub-Junior Girls’ singles and doubles crowns in the 11Even Sports 78th Cadet and Sub-Junior Nationals Table Tennis Championship which concluded at the SMC Stadium, in Siliguri on Tuesday.
In singles final, Diya produced a strong fighting display and played with plenty of confidence to prevail over Vanshika Bhargava of Delhi by a 4-3 margin to emerge champion.
Diya started aggressively and raced to a 3-1 lead before her opponent from Delhi fought back by winning the next two games to draw level and take the match to the decider. In the seventh game, Diya trailed 1-4 and 5-7 but fought back in exemplary fashion by winning six successive points to clinch the deciding game and close out the match at 14-12, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 5-11, 8-11, 11-7 and emerge champion.
Incidentally, Diya had earlier combined with compatriot Swastika Ghosh to take the doubles trophy, too. The Maharashtra pair had beaten the North Bengal pair of Nikita Sarkar and Sataporni De.
Meanwhile, H. Jeho of PSPBA beat fellow academy player Chinmaya Somaiya 4-1 to lift his maiden Sub-Junior Boys’ singles title. The fourth-seeded Jeho, who lost in quarter-finals in the previous edition at Kolkata, ensured himself not just the trophy but also the prize money in what turned out to be a one-sided final of the nationals.
Source : Free Press Journal