Ahmedabad: In Anand on Saturday, Shlok Bajaj reached the semi-finals of the 3rd Gujarat State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament 2021 in the Junior Boys’ (U-17) category.
Shlok appeared to have regained from the twin heartbreaks of losing the Men’s as well as Junior Boys’ (U-19) finals on the second day of the tournament on Friday as the second ranked under-17 player in the state beat another promising youngster Himansh Dahiya of Ahmedabad 11-3, 12-10, 11-8, 12-10 to reach the semis.
In other quarter-final matches, Surat’s Shlok Malpani edged out Bhavnagar’s Mann Joshi 11-8, 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8 while Arman Shaikh of Aravalli defeated teammate Harshvardhan Patel 11-2, 11-9, 11-4, 11-9.
State’s top ranked under-17 player Burhanuddin Malpani of Surat stayed on course to defend his turf with an 11-6, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 win over Aravalli’s Janmejay Patel.
But the match of the day at the Yugpurush Vivekanand Sports Complex belonged to Ahmedabad’s young Hiya Singh, the second seeded player in the Cadet Girls’ (U-13) category, who came from being two-game down to shock fifth seed Khushi Jadav of Bhavnagar 10-12, 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8 in an exciting Junior Girls’ (U-17) pre-quarter-final match.
However, Hiya could not sustain the momentum as she suffered a 4-11, 7-11, 9-11, 5-11 loss against Surat’s Arnee Parmar.
Ahmedabad’s Nidhi Prajapati, the state’s top-ranked U-17 player, too had a battle in hand as she came from being 0-2 down to beat Bhavnagar’s Riya Jayswal 9-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 to reach the semis.
Pratha Pawar stayed on course for another State Ranking title in the category as Amdavadi beat Baroda’s Sheli Patel 11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-7 in the quarters.
Surat’s Mili Tanna completed the semi-final lineup with an 11-9, 7-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7 win over Bhavnagar’s Rutva Kothari.
