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.
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.
{{/usCountry}}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.
{{/usCountry}}“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.