State table tennis: Pune’s player Vartikar defeats Kotecha to enter sub-junior final

In the final Vartikar will face Tiya Wagh of Thane who defeated her district-mate Kheya Shah

Playing back to back matches has become a routine for city girl Pritha Vartikar and it does not impact her as she keeps on winning the matches in bunches.

City’s Pritha Vartikar in action at the 49th inter-district and 80th Maharashtra state championship table tennis tournament 2018 at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex on Thursday. (HT PHOTO)

On Thursday, in the 49th inter-district and 80th state table tennis championship at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi, Vartikar entered the sub-junior category semi-final defeating Taneesha Kotecha of Nashik 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 5-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6.

In the best of seven games match, Vartikar came up with the giant effort and outplayed fifth-seeded Nashik player Kotecha 4-3.

In the final Vartikar will face Tiya Wagh of Thane who defeated her district-mate Kheya Shah 16-14, 11-5, 11-9, 13-15, 9-11, 10-12, 11-5.

Vartiakar’s junior category semi-final match was slated in the late night against Diya Chitale of Mumbai

Ahead of the semi-final match Vartikar played two quarterfinal matches –junior and sub-junior categories against the same opponent – Bhavika Moolrajani of Thane.

In the sub-junior match, Vartikar defeated Moolrajani of Thane 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8 while in the junior category Vartikar outplayed Moolrajani 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7.

“She (Moolrajani) is a good player there were many long rallies during the match but I managed to win the match with bringing variations in my shots,” Vartikar told Hindustan Times.

Vartikar did not start the sub-junior quarterfinal on a good note as she went down in the first set but managed to pull out victory winning next three games.

“I was up in the second and third game during the sub-junior match but I got excited and lost the contest,” said Moolrajani.

The junior quarterfinals turned out to be a one-sided contest as Vartikar dominated the contest against Moolrajani and completed a 4-1 victory.

“What to say about the match, I did not even have my chances. She (Vartikar) is the No 1 player and I was tired so I failed to win the match,” added Moolrajani.

“I lost one game during junior’s quarterfinal but it was because I was placing the ball in the same area so she got easy points but otherwise it was an easy match,” said Vartikar after the second quarterfinal match.

Results (quarterfinals)

Boys:

Midget: 1-Varad Lohat bt 9-Merwyn Patel 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8; 4-Mayuresh Sawant bt 12-Avaneesh Bhave 11-9, 7-11, 18-16, 13-11; 3-Ramanuj Jadhav bt 6-Swaroop Bhadalkar 12-10, 8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8; 2-Kaustubh Girgaonkar (NDD) bt 10-Tanish Pendse 11-3, 12-10, 11-5.

Cadet: 1-Gaurav Panchangam bt Nishant Gadre 11-8, 11-3, 11-2; 4-Kushal Chopda bt 12-Aaryan Deshpande 11-8, 11-9, 11-9; 3-Akshat Jain bt 6-Tanmay Rao 12-14, 5-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9; Neil Mulye bt Kaustubh Girgaonkar 11-6, 11-3, 11-8

Sub-junior: 1-Havish Asrani bt 8-Dhruav Das 9-11, 11-4, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5; 5-Sameehan Kuklarni bt 4-Arnav Karnavar 11-3, 11-7, 10-12, 11-8; 6-Aadil Anand bt 3-Rajveer Shah 11-7, 11-5, 5-11, 12-10;2-Jash Modi(MSD)bt 7-Archan Apte 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5.

Junior: 1-Raegan Albuquerque bt 8-Sahil Joshi 11-7, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6; 5-Chinmaya Somaiya bt 4-Ashwin Subramanian 11-9, 11-4, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6; 3-Vipul Nandkar bt 11-Jash Modi 11-6, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8; 2-Deepit Patil bt Hrishikesh Malhotra 11-13, 5-11, 11-6, 11-1, 11-5, 11-3.

Girls:

Midget: 1-Nabha Kirkole bt 9-Hrithika Madhur 12-10, 11-2, 11-6; 4-Sukrati Sharma bt 12-Swara Salgaonkar 5-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11-3; 3-Kavya Bhatt bt 11-Naisha Rewaskar 11-7,11-4,11-6; 2-Riya Kothari bt 10-Anushka Rawat 11-5, 11-3, 11-3.

Cadet: 1-Sana Dsouza bt 8-Jennifer Varghese 11-9, 11-8, 11-7; 4-Keisha Jhaveri bt 5-Devyani Kulkarni 12-10, 11-5, 8-11, 11-9; 3-Radhika Sakpal bt 11-Shubha Bhat 14-12, 12-10, 11-7; 7-Sayli Baxi bt Hardee Patel 12-14, 11-5, 2-11, 11-9, 11-7.

Sub-juniors: 1-Pritha Vartikar bt 8-Bhavika Moolrajani 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8; Taneesha Kotecha bt 4-Mrunmayee Raikhelkar 11-7, 8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 12-10; 11-Tiya Wagh bt 3-Arya Songadkar 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 15-13, 15-13; 2-Kheya Shah bt 7-Sampada Bhiwandkar 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 4-11, 13-11.

Junior: 1-Manushree Patil bt 8-Sampada Bhiwandkar 11-5, 11-4, 11-5, 7-11,11-7; 5-Vidhi Shah bt 13-Tejal Kamble 11-6, 12-10, 11-5, 6-11, 5-11, 11-9; 3-Pritha Vartikar bt 6-Bhavika Moolrajani 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7; 10-Diya Chitale bt 5-Mihika Rohira 11-7, 14-12, 11-9, 11-4.