City boy wins national TT silver

City boy wins national TT silver
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Highlights

In a giant leap for male paddlers from the two-Telugu speaking states, Hyderabad’s S Fidel R Snehit elevated his stature by several notches when he won the junior silver medal in the National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis  Championships at Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium in Rajkot on Sunday.

Hyderabad: In a giant leap for male paddlers from the two-Telugu speaking states, Hyderabad’s S Fidel R Snehit elevated his stature by several notches when he won the junior silver medal in the National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships at Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium in Rajkot on Sunday.

The super showing was the first instance in over a decade of a Telugu boy having a podium finish in the junior category at the national level. Snehit, who has impressed with his exploits on even the international stage in the age-group category, was at his potent best at Rajkot while annihilating several higher seeds on his way to the finals.

A protégé of SCR player Somnath Ghosh at the city-based Global Table Tennis Academy (GTTA), Snehit defeated India No 2 Jeet Chandra (West Bengal) in the second round and India No 3 Manush Shah (Gujarat) in the quarterfinals. It was sheer misfortune that he ran out of steam against the numero uno Manav Thakkar of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) 1-4 in the finals.

"I am very happy with my performance. I tried my best to rein in Manav, who has been the champion thrice over," Snehit said soon after achieving a career high. Somnath Ghosh took the opportunity to appeal to the policy makers. "The State government should invest on young talents like Snehit and help them realise their potential on the international circuit I hope the government will take note of Snehit’s latest accomplishments and offer avenues whereupon he can get trained abroad," he said. Incidentally, this also marked the second time in-a-row, Snehit has reached the main draw of men singles too.

Snehit at Rajkot: Finals: lost to Manav Thakkar (PSPB) 1-4 (6-11, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 8-11); Semifinals: bt Manush Shah (Gujarat) 4-1 (11-3, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9, 11-2); Quarterfinals: bt Anukram Jain (PSPB) 4-1 (11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9); Pre-quarterfinals: bt Marathe Anirudha (Maharashtra) 3-1 (9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8); Second round: bt Jeet Chandra (West Bengal) 3-1 (8-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-6); First round: bt Payas Jain (Delhi) 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8).

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