First district ranking table tennis: Aneeha wins sub-junior girls title

Aneeha is a Class 9 student of the SPM English Medium School, and trains with Upendra Mulye and Deepti Chaphekar at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana and Sharada Sports Centre. Last year, she had won three titles in the district ranking tournaments.

Second seed Aneeha D’souza won the sub-junior girls title in the season’s first district ranking table tennis tournament at Sharda Centre on Thursday.

Aneeha D’souza in action at the first district ranking table tennis tournament at Sharda centre on Thursday. (RAHUL RAUT/HT PHOTO)

Surprisingly top seed Pritha Vartikar’s challenge came to an end in the semi-finals. Pritha, who had impressed everyone last year by winning almost every tournament, went down to 5th seed Radhika Sakpal.

With this win, Radhika put herself in line for a double crown, as she had already won the cadet girls title on Wednesday. In the summit clash, Radhika started well by winning the first game 11-8, but Aneeha levelled the score with a hard-fought 12-10 win in the second.

Radhika once again gained a lead by winning the third game 11-9, but was nullified by the second seed who scripted a 11-5 win in the fourth game. The decider was quite close and both players tried their best to gain the crucial lead. In the end, it was Aneeha who had the last laugh. She won the match with 8-11,12-10,9-11,11-5,12-10 score.

Aneeha is a Class 9 student of the SPM English Medium School, and trains with Upendra Mulye and Deepti Chaphekar at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana and Sharada Sports Centre. Last year, she had won three titles in the district ranking tournaments.

Archan is a Class 9 student of the Symbiosis Secondary School and trains with Neeraj Honap at the school premises.