CITY’S talented paddler Jennifer Varghese started the year on podium as she claimed a bronze medal in the WTT Youth Contender at Vadodara on Monday. Jennifer, who has been honing her table tennis skills in Chennai for some years, lost the semi-final to eventual champion Japan’s Miku Matsushima. Twelve-year-old Miku defeated Divyanshi Bhowmick 3-2 to claim the title, thus helping Jennifer secure the bronze medal. In the semi-finals, Jennifer posed a tough challenge to Miku before going down 2-3.

 

She took the first game 11-6 but her Japanese opponent came back strongly to win the second game 12-10. Jennifer took the third 11-8 only to see her opponent take the next two 11-4, 11-7. In earlier matches, Jennifer defeated Pratha Pawar 3-2 to start her campaign on a winning note. The verdict read 11-4, 4-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6. In the prequarter-final, the city lass got the better of Ananya Muralidharan 3-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-8) and in the quarter-finals, she had to fight out hard for a 3-2 win over defending champion Syndrela Das 3-2. The game wise score was 10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 3-11, 11-8.