Exhibiting tremendous resilience and strong fighting qualities, unseeded Shanica Kadam hogged the limelight with a remarkable come from behind 3-2 win against fourth-seeded Trisha Dalmia in a sub-junior girls’ third round match of the 5-Star Mumbai City District Table Tennis Tournament, conducted and hosted by the Matunga Gymkhana at their table tennis hall on Friday.
Shanica Kadam is all concentration as she plays a backhand push.( Photo By: Prasad Naik.)
Shanica played with plenty of determination from the beginning, but closely lost the opening two games to her seeded opponent Trisha. However, she stayed focused and maintained concentration which helped her to win the next two to level the scores at 2-all. Shanica maintained the momentum and her composure to win the decider and the clinch the issue in her favour for a deserving 10-12, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10 victory.
Second seed Nimisha Warang encountered some anxious moments and was taken the distance before she managed to get the better of Tanisha Jhaveri in five games in another third round match. Nimisha and Tanisha shared the first four games before the former pocketed the fifth game to emerge an 11-4, 11-5, 9-11, 10-12, 11-7 winner.
The top seed Riya Suryavanshi faced little opposition as she sidelined Jesha Harlalka by posting a 11-0, 11-2, 11-1win to advance to the fourth round.
In the sub-junior boys’ competition, the top two seeds Atharva Kurade and Aditya Shinde quite comfortably won their respective third round matches. Top seed Atharva defeated Raj Shetye 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 and second seed Aditya Shinde prevailed over Yohan Mehta 11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7.
Results – Sub-Junior girls’ (round-3): 1-Riya Suryavanshi bt Jesha Harlalka 11-0, 11-2, 11-1; 2-Nimisha Warang bt Tanisha Jhaveri 11-4, 11-5, 9-11, 10-12, 11-7; Hiya Doshi bt 3-Kimaya Kajrolkar 11-7, 9-11, 11-4, 11-3; Shanica Kadam bt 4-Trisha Dalmia 10-12, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10.
Sub-Junior boys’ (round-3): 1-Atharva Kurade bt Raj Shetye 11-7, 11-9, 11-5; Dhruva Das bt Vedant Patil 11-3, 11-5, 12-10; Ayan Vajani bt Shreyas Sawant 11-3, 11-9, 11-5; 2-Aditya Shinde bt Yohan Mehta 11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7; Amey Thorat bt Sheril Shah 11-5, 11-6, 11-4; 3-Sameehan Kulkarni bt Shivam Ambre 11-6, 11-6, 11-7; Manit Shah bt Mehaan Shah 11-6, 11-8, 11-8.