Young Indian paddlers Diya Chitale and Swastika Ghosh put up solid performances at the 2021 WTT Youth Star Contender in Tunisia as they con...
Young Indian paddlers Diya Chitale and Swastika Ghosh put up solid performances at the 2021 WTT Youth Star Contender in Tunisia as they confirmed a medal in the U-19 girls doubles besides advancing to the knockout stage of the singles category.
The Maharashtra duo of Diya and Swastika, who received a bye in the opening round, registered convincing 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8 victory against the local favourite Fadwa Garci and Maram Zoghlami in the last-eight match in Tunis, and secured at least a bronze medal with an entry into the semi-finals.
The Indian pair will take on Czech Republic’s Linda Zaderova and Croatia’s Hana Arapovic in the last-four match.
Diya and Swastika also progressed into the U-19 singles last-16 stage after topping their respective groups with an all-win record.
The youth national champion, Diya, was dominant during her identical 3-0 victories against Belarusian Darya Vasilenka (11-7, 11-7, 11-7), Linda Zaderova (11-4, 10-12, 11-1, 11-8) and Algeria’s Narimene-Hind Siddeki (11-3, 11-4, 11-7) in Group VI.
Junior national champion Swastika defeated Greece’’s Malamatenia Papadimitriou and Portuguese Ines Matos 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-9) and 3-2 (8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7) respectively in the Group I matches.
The ongoing tournament is the first international youth event Indian players are participating in since the coronavirus outbreak.
Earlier in the...
