UTT-National ranking Central Zone table tennis: Jennifer puts it across Archana Kamath

The 13-year-old from Maharashtra, unseeded, registered her biggest victory to date with an upset victory over title-contender Archana Kamath of PSPB in the women's first-round.

Jennifer Verghese of Maharashtra upset Archana Kamath in the first round of the Central Zone TT Tournament in Indore.

Jennifer Varghese just couldn’t contain her unbridled joy when she let out a cry after finishing the match with a forehand cross-court winner.

The 13-year-old from Maharashtra, unseeded, registered her biggest victory to date with an upset (4-1) 6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 victory over title-contender Archana Kamath of PSPB in the women's first-round of the UTT-National ranking Central Zone table tennis tournament here on Tuesday.

A former (2018) National and reigning Petroleum inter-unit champion, the 21-year-old Archana, playing her first tournament this season as a qualifier, couldn’t control the rallies and was under pressure to finish points, resulting in many mistakes.

After losing the first game, unable to return properly to Archana's variety of serves, Jennifer came back in the subsequent games and was on par with her opponent in playing forehand topspins from the back of the table.  

“I am thrilled after beating a great player like Archana,” said Jennifer, who moved to Chennai in August 2020 to train under coach R. Rajesh, to Sportstar . “This is my first full season in women’s and to beat Archana is definitely motivating.”

Earlier, in the men’s singles second round, 11th-seed Shubh Goel and 16th-seed Payas Jain bowed out.

Important results:

Men: (Second round): Sarth Mishra (UP) bt Payas Jain (Del) 11-8, 6-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-6; Ronit Bhanja (AAI) bt D. Vishwa (TTTA) 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 4-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-3; Nitin Thiruvengadam (BBSCB) bt Jaydip Das (IA&AD) 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 6-11, 13-11; Tamal Ballav (Ben) bt Sachin Hemanth (TNTTA) 11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5; Anirban Nandi (Ben) bt Sushmit Srirram (TTTA) 11-5, 7-11, 8-11, 12-10, 15-13, 11-8.

Women: (first round): Anannya Basak (Mah) bt Prajakta Tipale (LIC) 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9; Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) bt Pritha Vartikar (Mah) 11-4, 11-2, 13-11, 11-9; Suhana Saini (Har) bt Tisha Kohli (Del) 11-9, 11-3, 11-1, 11-7; R. Harshavardhini (RBI) bt Vedhalakshmi Devi (TNTTA) 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-8; Amrutha Pushpak (RBI) bt Kavyashree Baskar (TTTA) 2-11, 11-5, 10-12, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9; M. Nithyashree (TTTA) bt Tanzia Sharma (Del) 11-6, 11-1, 11-6, 11-6; S. Yashini (TNTTA) bt Risha Mirchandani (Mah) 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-3, 7-11, 11-4.