India’s number 12 and Gujarat’s top player Kritvika Sinha Roy entered the main draw of women’s singles on Wednesday at the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championship held at the Sama Indoor Sports Complex in Vadodara. Thus he will lead the invasion of Gujarat.
29-year-old Kritvika, wife of Arjun Award winner and Surat favorite player Harmit Desai, has been playing for Gujarat since 2021 and has since dominated various competitions in the state. He is T in Group-4 of this tournament. Lakshmi (Telangana) and Hardi Patel (Maharashtra-B) remained at the forefront.
Along with Roy, India’s number-19 and Frenaz Chipiya of Surat will also represent Gujarat. Franaz defeated veteran Nikhat Banu (RBI) in a crucial qualifying match.
In the men’s section, all hopes rested on Gujarat’s third seed Soham Bhattacharya who cruised to an easy victory in the qualifying round. Apart from this, Gujarat’s Jayanil Mehta, local player Jalay Mehta and Akshit Sawla also entered the main draw.
Earlier, Bengal’s Punit Biswas clinched the Under-15 title with a brilliant victory against Tamil Nadu’s Umesh Kumar despite trailing by a game.
Subhankrita Dutta (NCOE) won the Girls’ Under-15 title, defeating Delhi’s Sayanika Maji 4-0 in the final.
Final Results:
Boys Under-15
Punit Biswas won vs Umesh Kumar 4-2 (7-11,11-7,5-11,11-5,11-9,11-8); Girls Under-15
Subhankrita Dutta won vs Sayanika Maji 4-0 (11-8,11-6,11-6,11-9).