National sub-junior table tennis c’ships: Jennifer, Riana triumph in contrasting style

Maharashtra’s Jennifer Varghese won the under-15 girls singles title in the UTT 84th National sub-junior table tennis championships on Wednesday.

Champions: Maharashtra’s Riana Bhoota, left under-13, and Jennifer Varghese, under-15, winners of National sub-junior girls table tennis championships in Alappuzha on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: Stan Rayan

Maharashtra’s Jennifer Varghese chased away the thoughts distracting her mind and won the under-15 girls singles title in the UTT 84th National sub-junior table tennis championships at the YMCA’s N.C. John Memorial Arena here on Wednesday.

The 14-year-old 10 ^th seed from Nagpur, whose roots are in Thiruvalla in Kerala, pulled off a 4-3 victory over Delhi’s fourth-seeded Avisha Karmakar for her trophy. Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s Riana Bhoota took the under-13 girls title with a breezy 4-0 victory over West Bengal’s Ahona Ray.

Jennifer is tall and immensely talented but she appeared to choke and the opening game exposed it fully. Despite being on game point a few times, she allowed Avisha to come back and trouble her each time before winning the opener on her seventh game point.

“I was choking a lot because I was only thinking about winning and not playing,” Jennifer told Sportstar. “But in the end, in the decider, I just focused on my quality and tried to get better. That’s how I managed to win.”

Jennifer’s previous National title had come in 2019 and she desperately wanted to win. But Avisha proved to be a tough nut to crack.

The battle between the two attacking players was a thriller. Avisha’s strategy was to use the push to stop Jennifer from unleashing her attacking guns, her forehand and backhand topspinners. But it did not work for long. There were plenty of fast rallies too with both the players waiting for the other to commit mistakes.

And Jennifer came up with a nice variety, mixing up her shots and attacking the flanks smartly to pull off a memorable victory.

After a day’s break, the boys’ Nationals will begin on Friday.

The results (girls):

Under-15 singles final: Jennifer Varghese (Mah) bt Avisha Karmakar (Del) 17-15, 6-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5, 9-11, 11-5. Semifinals: Avisha bt Ikshika Umate (Mah) 11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 11-4, 11-9; Jennifer bt Riana Bhoota (Mah) 8-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-1, 11-5, 11-3.

Doubles final: Sayanika Maji/Avisha Karmakar (Del) bt Divyanshi Bhowmick/Riana Bhoota (Mah) 11-7, 11-8, 11-7.

Under-13 singles final: Riana Bhoota (Mah) bt Ahona Ray (WB) 11-3, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5. Semifinals: Riana bt Satya Aspathi (Tel) 11-5, 11-9, 11-6; Ahona bt Divyanshi Bhowmick (Mah) 11-7, 5-11, 11-8, 11-9.

Doubles final: Riana Bhoota/Divyanshi Bhowmick (Mah) bt Ahona Ray/Ankolika Chakraborty (WB) 11-9, 11-5, 11-3.