NAGPUR: It was not Jennifer Varghese's day on Monday. On the concluding day of her season's first international tour at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Star Youth Contender series, Jennifer lost all the games she played but brought home a brace of silver medals from Lima, Peru.
In both the singles and doubles U-15 girl's events, Jennifer won all the games she played till the finals on Monday, where the city paddler had to face defeats in all six games.
Despite losing both the U-15 finals in the five-day WTT series, Jennifer will be satisfied with her overall performance as she was the only paddler in the U-19 girls group to surprise eventual champion and world 17th ranked youth paddler Park Gahyeon of Korea in the group stage of the tournament.
Up against the tournament's best girls paddler in her first U-19 league match, the 132nd ranked Jennifer rallied splendidly to surprise Korea's Park 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7. After clearing the group stage by winning both matches, Jennifer defeated Kristal Melendez of Puerto Rico 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7 in the first knockout round.
In the quarterfinal, the 15-year-old Jennifer went down against U-19 girls silver medalist Lee Seungeun of Korea 9-11, 5-11, 6-11. Lee lost the summit clash to Park 11-8, 11-13, 5-11, 9-11.
Jennifer, who is being trained by R Rajesh at the ITTC Center in Chennai, had won all the five gold medals in the South Asian Youth TT championship in Arunachal Pradesh last month.
RESULTS
U-15 girls singles (Final): Choi Nahyun (Korea) bt Jennifer Varghese 11-4, 11-6, 11-6; Semifinal: Jennifer bt Avisha Karmakar 11-9, 11-8, 11-2; Quarterfinal: Jennifer bt Luciana Andrea (Peru) 11-8, 11-8, 11-4.
U-15 Girls Doubles (Final): Sayanika Maji-Riana Bhoota bt Jennifer Varghese-Avisha Karmakar 11-9, 11-9, 11-7; Semifinal: Jennifer-Avisha bt Mariana Gabriela-Angelina Cutipa (Peru) 11-7, 11-6, 11-6; Quarterfinal: Jennifer-Avisha bt Maria Jose-Alessandra Plores 11-6, 11-1, 11-4.
U-19 Girls Singles (quarterfinals): Lee Seungeun (Korea) bt Jennifer 11-9, 11-5, 11-6; PQF: Jennifer BT Kristal Melendez (Puerto Rico) 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7; Group 1: Jennifer bt Park Gahyeon (Korea) 9-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 ; Jennifer bt Julia Leal (Portugal) 11-8, 8-11, 11-4, 11-2.
