In 1st Gujarat State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament 2021 which is organized by Aravalli District Table Tennis Association, Bhavnagar’s Sujal Kukadia rekindled hope for one of Gujarat’s traditional powerhouses as they won the Cadet crowns and Ahmedabad’s Pratha Pawar added another feather to her cap
Top seed Pratha beat teammate and third seed Moubini Chatterjee 11-7, 11-6, 11-6, 12-10 to win the Cadet Girls’ (U-13) title. Second seed Hiya Singh of Ahmedabad settled for third-place finish with an 11-9, 11-3, 10-12, 11-6 win over teammate and fourth seed Jiya Trivedi.
In the semis, Pratha beat Jiya 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-5 while Moubini shocked Hiya with a fighting 17-15, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8 win.
The Cadet Boys’ section was full of surprises with fourth seed Sujal winning 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 3-11, 11-8, 11-6 against third seed Vivaan Dave of Surat in the final.
Top seed Samarth Shekhawat of Baroda beat second seed Aarya Kataria of Ahmedabad 11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8 for the third place.
In the semis, Sujal Kukadia shocked Samarth 11-6, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7 while Vivaan edged out Aarya 11-5, 9-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-9.
Surat’s Krisha Patel and Vivaan became the first-ever Hopes (U-11) winners at the tournament.
In Hope Girls’ final, Krisha beat Bhavnagar’s Charmi Trivedi 11-4, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9 to win the title.
Surat’s Vishruti Jadhav took third place with an 11-9, 12-10, 6-11, 11-7 win over Richa Rawat.
In the Hopes Boys’ category, Vivaan came from a game down to beat teammate Hridan Patel 10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6, 11-4 in the final.
Ahmedabad’s Taksh Shah took third place with a 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 13-11 win over Rajkot’s Divya Patel.