Yesterday she was crowned with the Sub Jr. Girls State Champion title and today she was battling the whole day to take on her seniors in the Girls Singles event of the Dr Ramesh Prabhoo Memorial 82nd Maharashtra State Table Tennis Championship organized by The Suburban District Table Tennis Association and played at the Prabodhankar Thackeray Krida Sankul, Vile Parle, Mumbai. We are talking about Pune youngster Pritha Vartikar, who bagged her second crown today in the Girls event too.
Pritha Vartikar in action
Displaying tremendous confidence and playing with a high-level of consistency today, Pritha Vartikar of Pune District continued with her impressive winning performances and easily defeated Samrudhi Kulkarni of Solapur in four straight games in the Junior girls’ singles final today evening.
14-year-old Pritha quashed the aspirations of left-handed Samrudhi by smoothly coasting to a 11-5, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5 win to complete a grand double. This is first time Pritha has won two titles in a championship.
Pritha proudly holds her second trophy
The Pune girl, who is the reigning National sub-junior champion, played with controlled aggression and with quick top-spin drives on either flank she went on to rattle her Solapur opponent, who was unable to put up much of an opposition before caving in rather meekly.
Earlier, in a closely contested semi-final encounter, Pritha Vartikar had to work hard to overcome the spirited fight from home favourite Sampada Bhiwandkar (TSTTA) before snatching a deserving 5-11, 11-6, 11-5, 10-12, 11-4, 14-16 and 11-8 success to advance to the title round. This was the best match of the day
On another table, Samrudhi had sidelined another Mumbai girl Vidhi Shah winning her semi-final clash in straight games. The bespectacled Vidhi tried her best to put up a fight, but she was unable to match the superior all-round play of the Solapur girl, who controlled play from the start to dictate terms throughout the contest. Samrudhi served well and was quick to go for her shot to finish off the rallies as she strolled to a straight-game 11-5, 11-7, 11-9 and 11-3 victory.
Results – Junior girls’ singles –
Quarter-finals: Samrudhi Kulkarni (SOL) beat Shravani Sawant (THN) 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-7, 13-11;
Vidhi Shah (TSTTA) beat Sayali Wani (NSK) 11-5, 7-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8;
Sampada Bhiwandkar (TSTTA) beat Kheya Shah (TSTTA) 11-5, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7;
Pritha Vartikar (PNA) beat Taneesha Kotecha (NSK)
11-7, 14-12, 14-12, 12-10.
Semi-finals: Samrudhi Kulkarni (SOL) beat Vidhi Shah (TSTTA) 11-5, 11-7, 11-9, 11-3;
Pritha Vartikar (PNA) beat Sampada Bhiwandkar (TSTTA) 5-11, 11-6, 11-5, 10-12, 11-4, 14-16, 11-8.
Finals: Pritha Vartikar (PNA) beat Samrudhi Kulkarni (SOL) 11-5, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5.