E-Paper
Pune’s Eesha smashes jr. girls’, youth, women’s titles in one go
The 17-year-old Eesha, who had won 9 titles last season continued her fine run to win a triple crown in the Friendship Cup District Ranking Table Tennis Tournament at Symbiosis Sports Centre on Wednesday.
Eesha Joshi continued her fine run to win a triple crown in the Friendship Cup District Ranking Table Tennis Tournament at Symbiosis Sports Centre on Wednesday. The tournament was organised by Vibrant Table Tennis Academy.
The 17-year-old Eesha, who had won 9 titles last season, started her campaign with a youth title in the 1st district ranking tournament held at Sharada Centre last month. This time, she made a clean sweep and bagged junior girls, youth and women’s title in one go. In the junior girls’ final, she knocked out top seed Ankita Patwardhan 11-9, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9 in straight games. Ankita put her best efforts in the first game, but proved no match to Eesha’s quick returns.
In the youth girls’ semifinals, Eesha was trailing 0-2 against 11th seed Fauzia Meherally. However, soon she picked up the rhythm and won next four games in-a-row to book her place in the final. In the summit clash, she had an easy encounter as she defeated fourth seed Saloni Shah 11-5, 11-2, 11-7, 11-9.
Having already two crowns under her belt, Eesha confidently defeated second seed Ankita Bhusari 8-11, 11-7, 17-15, 11-8, 11-9 in the women’s semifinal, and then prevailed over 8th seed Shruti Gabhane 11-5, 6-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-6 in the final. Eesha is standard XII student of Fergusson College and trains with Upendra Mulye at PYC Hindu Gymkhana. Meanwhile, in the sub-junior girls’ category, Mrunmayi Raikhelkar defeated Pooja Jorwar 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 in the final.
In the boys’ category, Karan Kukreja of Indira National School won sub-junior category with 11-13, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 win over Arush Galpalli, but missed out a double crown as he went down to Rohan Khivansara in the youth final.
RESULTS:
Boys: (sub-junior) Karan Kukreja bt Arush Galpalli 11-13, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6; (junior) Sanat Bokil bt Gaurav Lohapatre 11-7, 7-11, 11-3, 11-5, 14-12; (youth) Rohan Khivansara bt Karan Kukreja 5-11, 11-9, 16-14, 3-11, 11-9, 11-9; (veterans) Ajay Kothavale bt Deepesh Abhyankar 11-3, 9-11, 11-5, 11-9; (men’s doubles) Shubhankar Renavikar/Anurag Gote bt Chinmay Datar/Rohit Desai 11-8, 11-8, 11-6.
Girls: (sub-junior) Mrunmayi Raikhelkar bt Pooja Jorwar 11-6, 11-6, 11-9; (junior) Eesha Joshi bt Ankita Patwardhan 11-9, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9; (youth) Eesha Joshi bt Saloni Shah 11-5, 11-2, 11-7, 11-9; (women) Eesha Joshi bt Shruti Gabhane 11-5, 6-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-6;
Mix Doubles: Chinmay Datar/Devika Bhide bt Deepak Kadam/Sai Bakre 11-8, 11-7, 11-1
