Swastika, who is still eligible to play in the Sub Junior Girls Section and who has already won titles in cadet Girls and Sub Junior Girls in the past, proved that she had taken a wise decision to play in the higher section of Junior Girls in the LIC-IOC All India National Ranking Table Tennis Championships (South Zone) at Dharwad.
Swastika Ghosh with father Sandeep Ghosh.
Swastika was competing in the Junior section for the first time in this big National level TT event. Her Quarter final win over PSPB’s Archana Kamath and later the semi final triumph over state mate Srushti Halaengadi, obviously boosted her morale before the finals against Selenadeepthi Selvakumar, of AAI .
This was indeed a memorable performance for 14 year old Swastika, student of Ramsheth Thakur Public School, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. She had really worked hard practising with her father and mentor Sandeep Ghosh a renowned TT Coach. Her Sports loving school authorities have also offered her all the help to progress further in this game.
Another Junior Manush Shah of the Airports Authority of India( AAI) also won the Junior Boys Singles title in this tournament , when he defeated Jeet Chandra of West Bengal 4-1 in the finals.
Results:
Junior Boys Singles: Final:
Manush Shah (AAI) bt Jeet Chandra (WB) 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8;
Semi-finals:
Manush Shah bt Yashansh Malik (Del) 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 8-11, 13-11, 5-11, 11-3;
Jeet Chandra bt Manav Thakkar (PSPB) 11-7, 11-9, 4-11, 11-5, 11-6.
Junior Girls Singles: Final:
Swastika Ghosh (Mah) bt Selenadeepthi Selvakumar (AAI) 11-8, 13-15, 11-3, 11-5, 11-5;
Semi-finals: Selenadeepthi Selvakumar bt Ishita Gupta 8-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5,
Swastika Ghosh bt Srushti Haleangadi (Mah) 11-9, 11-4, 3-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8.