Shivali, Varada in semis

MUMBAI, Sept 28: The top two seeds in the girls' under-14, Shivali Nayak and Varada Bal, made it to the semi-finals of the MSSA-Colgate i...

MUMBAI, Sept 28: The top two seeds in the girls’ under-14, Shivali Nayak and Varada Bal, made it to the semi-finals of the MSSA-Colgate inter-school table tennis competition.

St Joseph’s Shivali beat Ashani Shah (JB Petit) 21-15, 21-12 while Gokuldham’s Varada Bal overcame Dhwanika Unadkat (JB Petit) 21-11, 21-15 at the University Sports Pavilion today.

Swati Gupta of Atomic Energy and Radhika Shah of JB Petit joined these two in the last four stage.

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Varada, however, could not inspire her team to the semi-finals as Gokuldham lost to Cathedral and John Connon in the quarters. Shai Samtani wrapped up the final reverse singles, after both teams were locked 2-2, beating Naomi Kotwal to clinch the issue for Cathedral.

At 1-1, the crucial doubles tie, a dramatically close affair, went the Cathedral way with Naina Sood and Pia Seth keeping their team’s hopes alive with a 20-22, 22-20, 23-21 comeback win over Varada and Meeta Anaokar. Though squash international Rhea Bhandare lost her reverse singles match,Shai wielded her magic to settle the issue.

Results

Girls’ under-16 (quarter-finals): Shivali Nayak (St Joseph’s, Bandra) bt Ashani Shah (JB Petit) 21-15, 21-12; Radhika Shah (JB Petit) bt Nikhita Zaveri (JB Petit) 21-15, 21-11; Varada Bal (Gokuldham) bt Dhwanika Unadkat (JB Petit) 21-11, 21-15; Swati Gupta (Atomic Energy) w/o Avanti Tendulkar (Jasudben).

Second round: Dhwanika Unadkat bt Rachael Mathias (Joseph’s Convent) 21-9, 21-16; Radhika Shah bt Nimoli Handu (Atomic Energy) 21-9, 21-5; Varada Bal bt Rhea Bhandare (Cathedral) 21-13, 21-7.

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First round: Rachael Mathias bt Gayatri Kerkar (JB Vachha) 20-22, 21-13, 21-13; Nikita Zaveri (JB Petit) bt Shai Samtani (Cathedral) 21-10, 21-17; Ashani Shah bt Naina Sood (Cathedral) 21-11, 21-8.

Under-14 (pre-quarterfinals): Sonam Bajaj (Joseph Convent) bt Sushmita Das (Queen Mary) 21-5, 21-4; Sayali Kukday (St Anne’s) bt Aditi Doshi (Cathedral) 21-8, 21-8; Sneha Keshav (VN Sule) bt Paridhi Mittal (Cathedral) 21-10, 21-7; JanhaviKulkarni (AVM, Santa Cruz) Kinjal Damani (Utpal Sanghvi) 21-14, 21-9; Alisha Husain (Joseph Convent) bt Alia Menon (JB Vacha) 21-13, 21-19; Bhavana Suvarna (Jasudben) bt Bhavya Dore (JB Petit) 21-12, 21-12.

Under-14 (second round): Sayali Kukday (St Anne’s) bt Tavishi Budhiraja (Lilavati Podar) 21-8, 21-8; Pooja Kulkarni (Utpal Sanghvi) bt Shailey Mehta (Bombay Cambridge) 21-9, 21-15; Sonam Bajaj (Joseph’s Convent) bt Sanjana Jhaveri (JB Petit) 21-10, 21-13; Sneha Keshav (VN Sule) bt Kripa Vithlani (Queen Mary) 21-13, 21-8; Alia Menon (JB Vacha) bt Swati Manhot (Bombay Cambridge) 21-12, 21-10; Kunjal Damani (Utpal Sanghvi) bt Amrita Bhatia (JB Petit) 23-25, 21-10, 21-11; Alish Husain (Joseph Convent) bt Radhika Parekh (Cathedral) 21-7, 21-4.

Under-14 (first round):Swati Manhot (Bombay Cambridge) bt Anshika Gupta (Gokuldham) 21-3, 21-10; Alisha Hoosein (Joseph Convent) bt Leela Durga (Atomic Energy) 21-3, 21-6; Sanjana Jhaveri (JB Petit) bt Pankti Shah (Utpal Sanghvi) 21-7,21-8.

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Team: JB Petit (Fort) bt JB Vachha (Dadar) 3-0 (Ashani Shah bt Alia Menon 21-13, 19-21, 21-16; Radhika Shah bt Gayatri Kerkar 21-8, 21-9; Nikhita Zaveri/Radhika Shah bt Alia Menon/Zeenia Crawford 21-11, 21-17); AVM (Santacruz) w/o Yashodham (Goregaon); Cathedral and John Connon bt Gokuldham 3-2 (Shai Samtani lost to Varada Bal 10-21, 10-21; Rhea Bhandari bt Naomi Kotwal 21-14, 21-9; Naina Sood/Pia Seth bt Meeta Anaokar/Varada Bal 20-22, 22-20, 23-21; Rhea Bhandare lost to Varada Bal 0-21, 3-21; Shai Samtani bt Naomi Kotwal 21-4, 21-6).