Siliguri, Dec 5 (IANS) Vidhi Ameet Shah defeated Anusha Kutumbale in the Sub-Junior girls singles pre-quarterfinals to advance at the ongoing 78th Cadet and Sub-Junior Table Tennis Nationals at the SMC Stadium here on Monday.
Maharashtra's Vidhi defeated the top seed 3-2 (11-13, 11-5, 5-11 11-9, 16-14) on her third match point to enter her maiden quarterfinals.
Anusha was patchy on the day and missed even her normal strokes which only multiplied her problems.
But the credit must go to the Maharashtrian girl who, in her first national outing, showed her prowess and more than that a cool head when the situation warranted.
There were several misses and hits during their match with fortunes fluctuating from one extreme to another as the two took two games each to force the decider.
It was in the decider that the cool head of Vidhi came in handy as after four deuces, her opponent also missed two match-points. She held on to her nerves to win the match and progress into the quarterfinals.
In other matches, second-seeded Maharashtrian Swastika Ghosh had it easy against Telangana's Anjali Naineni winning her match 11-8, 11-3, 11-4, while Goa's Tanisi Kirtani accounted for Aditi Sinha 11-6, 14-12, 9-11, 11-7. Delhi's Vanshika Bhargava outplayed Karnataka's Anargya Manjunath 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 and Dia Chitaledfeated Ayushi Ghia of Telangana 11-6, 11-9, 11-7.
--IANS
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