Defending champion Diya Chitale retains title at Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships

Indore: Defending champion Diya Chitale retained the youth girls title with a hard-fought win while Swastika Ghosh came-from behind to claim her maiden junior girls crown at the UTT 82nd Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships on Tuesday. Diya’s 4-3 triumph was full of a character-assessment lesson for any youngster watching the match, as the Maharashtra paddler, down 2-3 and 3-5 in the sixth game, first built up confidence and then the points to outsmart Karnataka’s Yashaswini Ghorphade. The decider summed up Diya’s character in as many words when she mounted an 8-0 lead to make the title-triumph a runaway and box-office hit, fetching her Rs 63,000 in prize money. Meanwhile, Swastika, also from Maharashtra, claimed the junior girls title with a 4-2 victory over Haryana’s Suhana Saini in the final. Suhana had everything going for her until the second game. She took the vital 2-0 lead, winning the second game on extended points. However, Swastika upped the quality of her game and used a mix-matched attack on the flanks. They fetched her the crucial points and, at times, put the Haryana girl into a push-back mode rather than play herself in and attack. All of these went in Swastika’s favour. Results: Youth Girls: Final: Diya Chitale (Mah) bt Yashaswini Ghorpade (Kar) 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 5-11, 11-8, 11-2. Semi-finals: Diya Chitale bt Radhapriya Goel (UP) 11-8, 11-8, 11-4, 11-9; Yashaswini Ghorpade bt Anannya Basak (Mah) 7-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4. Junior Girls: Final: Swastika Ghosh (Mah) bt Suhana Saini (Har) 7-11, 11-13, 11-7, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9. Semi-finals: Swastika Ghosh bt Lakshita Narang (Del) 13-11, 11-6, 9-11, 5-11, 11-3, 11-5; Suhana Saini bt Nithyashree Mani (TTTA) 8-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4.