WTT Youth Contender: Indian girls sweep titles in Tunis

Lack of entries led to smaller draws that in turn made things easier for the Indian girls who swept all the titles at stake.

In what turned out to be India-dominated fields across the girls’ age-group categories, Swastika Ghosh, Yashaswini Ghorpade, Suhana Saini, Hansini Rajan and Dhaani Jain emerged champions in the World Table Tennis Youth Contender tournament in Tunis. Lack of entries led to smaller draws that in turn made things easier for the Indian girls who swept all the titles at stake. In under-19, where all four semifinalists were Indians, top seed Swastika Ghosh battled past Yashaswini Ghopade in five sets. Yashaswini went on to collect the under-17 title by beating Egypt’s Farida Badawy in straight sets.

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Suhana Saini added a second straight title in the under-15 section by stopping Pritha Vartikar in five sets. Hansini Rajan became the under-13 champion by beating Prisha Goel in a one-sided final. Dhani Jain, who upstaged top seeded Uzbek Arujan Kamalova in four close sets in the semifinals, defeated second seeded compatriot Ananya Muralidharan in five sets to emerge a surprise winner in the under-11 category.

Girls results (Indians unless stated otherwise):U-19 (final): Swastika Ghosh bt Yashaswini Ghorpade 6-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8,11-8; (semifinals): Swastika bt Lakshita Narang 11-4, 10-12, 11-8, 11-7; Yashaswini bt Nithya Mani 9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-5. U-17 (final): Yashaswini Ghorpade bt Farida Badawy (Egy) 11-6. 14-12, 11-7; (semifinals): Farida bt Markhabo Magdieva (Uzb) 10-12, 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10; Yashaswini bt Lakshita Narang 8-11. 11-4, 11-6, 13-11. U-15 (final): Suhana Saini bt Pritha Vartikar 11-3, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7; (semifinals): Suhana bt Sayali Wani 11-7, 12-10, 13-11; Pritha bt Lilou Massart (Bel)11-9, 11-4, 9-11. 11-2. U-13 (final): Hansini Rajan bt Prisha Goel 11-5, 11-8, 11-8; (semifinals): Hansini bt Ananya Muralidharan 11-7, 11-8, 11-9; Prisha bt Asel Erkebaeva (Uzb) 11-6, 12-10, 11-4. U-11 (final): Dhaani Jain bt Ananya Muralidharan 11-4, 11-6, 9-11, 10-12, 11-7 (semifinals):  Dhaani bt Arujan Kamalova (Uzb) 11-2, 6-11, 15-13, 17-15; Ananya bt Mariam Brahimi (Tun) 11-5, 11-5, 11-8.