Gujarat U-19 girls win junior national table tennis medal

Ahmedabad: Gujarat girls under-19 team went down fighting to Haryana in the semifinals of the under-19 girls team championships at the 85th UTT Inter-State Youth and Junior National Table Tennis Championships in Kolkata on Monday. Despite the defeat, they secured Gujarat’s maiden bronze medal in the girls under-19 team event at nationals.Gujarat team comprising Oishiki Joardar, Jiya Trivedi, Riya Jayswal and Nidhi Prajapati and coached by veteran paddler Jignesh Jayswal and Sudarshan Merese, defeated Jharkhand, Assam and Meghalaya in the group stage. They then trounced Rajasthan 3-0 in the quarterfinal to reach semifinals. However, Oishiki and team failed to cross the semifinals hurdle as they went down 2-3 to Haryana. Skipper Oishiki gave the team a brilliant start by winning her opening game. But Riya and Jiya lost their respective matches and handed Haryana the advantage. Oishiki pulled one back again by winning the fourth tie but Riya lost the decider which ended Gujarat’s dream run in the team event.