At 15, Jennifer crowned women state champion

Nagpur: City paddlers Jennifer Varghese and Ikshika Umate underlined their supremacy in the 54th inter-district and 85th state table tennis championship which concluded in Pune on Sunday.While 15-year-old Jennifer became one of the youngest state champions in the women’s group, Ikshika hogged the limelight by winning the U-15 girl’s title. On her way to matching the feat of star paddler Mallika Bhandarkar, who was the youngest women state champion from the city, young Jennifer also brought home twin bronze medals when she finished third in the U-19 and U-17 girls’ singles events.A day after she sent the women’s top seed packing, 17th seed Jennifer rallied superbly to outclass seed no. 12 Sampada Bhiwandkar of TST in an exciting semifinal 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 11-1. In the thrill-a-minute women’s title clash, Jennifer stunned arch rival and 10th seed Sayali Wani of Nashik 11-6, 4-11, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 to become one of the youngest to emerge state champion and clinch her first gold medal in the women’s section in Maharashtra’s inter-district championship. Last year, in the state tournament, Jennifer had won the U-19 girls bronze medal.In a chat with TOI, an elated Jennifer said, “I am extremely happy to have won the state championship women’s title. The icing on the cake was when I came to know about being one of the youngest to have won the state women’s title. I am looking forward to doing well in the upcoming nationals at Gujarat, and at the forthcoming world championship in Slovenia.”Earlier, in the U-19 girls singles semifinal, Jennifer went down fighting to Sayali in straight games. Similarly, in the evening session, Jennifer suffered a semifinal defeat at the hands of U-17 top seed Divyanshi Bhowmick 2-3. While Jennifer lost the U-17 semifinal, her city mate Ikshika Umathe defeated Thane’s Riana Bhoota 6-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-9 to set up the summit clash with top seed Divyanshi. In the final, Ikshika found Divyanshi too tough to handle and lost the summit clash 5-11, 7-11, 5-11 to win silver.Much like the star performance of Jennifer, young Ikshika gave city paddlers a reason to cheer when she lifted the U-15 crown. After recording a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over Thane’s Sukrati Sharma, the third seeded Ikshika stunned second seed Kavya Bhatt in a lop-sided semifinal in straight games 11-6, 11-9, 11-6. In an interesting summit clash, Ikshika had to sweat before she got the better of Thane’s 16th seeded Riana and emerge U-15 champion. Ikshika won the final 11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 9-11, 13-11.