The youngster from Bhavnagar dominated the 2nd Gujarat State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament (Phase II) by recording a big upset on opening day.
At SNK School indoor stadium in Rajkot, Riya shocked fourth seed Aafrein Murad of Surat 11-7, 11-7, 11-8 to reach the Women’s quarters.
Earlier in the opening round of the tournament, Riya survived a battle of nerves as she overcome Baroda’s Bhusha Mehta 11-9, 11-13, 11-6, 11-13, 11-7 while Ahmedabad’s Shiney Gomes faced little hassle in her 11-7, 11-9, 13-11 win over Bhavnagar’s Khushali Joshi.
In Junior Girls’ (U-19) round one matches, Surat’s Bhavya Jaiswal beat Ahmedabad’s Siddhi Patel 11-2, 11-7, 11-6 while Hiya Patel of Surat defeated Shabnam Suthar of Aravalli 11-8, 12-10, 11-6.
Bhavnagar’s Khushi Jadav looked good in her 11-5, 11-9, 11-2 win over Surat’s Asha Rawat while Ahmedabad’s Nidhi Prajapati was at her dominant best in 11-1, 11-2, 11-4 win over Vibhuti Joshi of Bhavnagar.
Another Bhavnagar girl, Rutva Kothari, defeated Moubini Chatterjee Ahmedabad 11-5, 11-8, 9-11, 11-3.
In Junior Boys’ (U-19) first-round matches, Ahmedabad’s Himanshu Dahiya had a battle in hand in his 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6 win over Aravalli’s Harshvardhan Patel while Bhavnagar’s Vivek Makwana eased past Ahmedabad’s Divya Patel 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 and Surat’s Ayush Tanna beat Bhavnagar’s Devesh Vaghlea 11-8, 13-11, 11-7.
