Jennifer wins maiden U-15 gold in table tennis nationals

City's 13-year-old Jennifer Varghese won her maiden U-15 gold medal in the National Ranking Table Tennis Tournament at Mohali on Wednesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, she won a bronze medal in the Youth category.

In the Under-15 final, Jennifer coached by Ujwal Wani defeated Shaha Nand Sandika Bhattacharjee of West Bengal 11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6.

In the sem-final, Jennifer downed M Hansini of Tamil Nadu 11-5, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7. In the quarterfinal, Jennifer quelled the challenge of Saha Nadini of Bengal 11-5, 11-7, 12-10, 10-12, 9-11, 11-1.

Earlier in the Under-17 category, in the semi-final she went down fighting to Kavyasree Baskar (Tamil Nadu) 8-11, 9-11, 8-11, 6-11.

In quarter final Jennifer posted a hard fought 12-10, 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 11-1; win over the second seed Srijit a Shaw of West Bengal and entered into the semifinals.

On her way to seal her first national medal in the U-17 age group, the city paddler surprised second seeded and Delhi's top ranked player Lakshita Narang 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-5 in the pre-quarterfinal stage of the tournament.

In the ranking event at Mohali, an unseeded Jennifer gave a positive start to her campaign. In her first outing Jennifer outplayed Sahana Murthy of Karnataka and posted a fine 3-2 victory over Haryana's Gargi Dangi in the second round to set up her first big battle against Delhi's top paddler and second seeded Lakshita.

Earlier in the month, Jennifer won her first medal in the Open Women's group in the state championship to qualify for the national ranking tournaments at Panchkula and Mohali in various age categories.