Pranati sparkles as Thiruvananthapuram wins

The Thiruvnananthapuram team, women’s inter-district champions, in the Kerala state table tennis in Alappuzha on Thursday. | Photo by Stan Rayan

Alappuzha team, men’s inter-district champion. | Image credit: Special arrangement

Sixteen-year-old Pranati Nair upset defending state champion and top seed Seraha Jacob as Thiruvananthapuram sensationally beat Alappuzha 3-1 to win the women’s team title at the Duroflex Kerala State Table Tennis Championship at the Alappuzha YMCA on Thursday.

Pranati was the star of the Thiruvananthapurams victory, winning the opening singles against R. Aswan and then coming back to defeat Seraha, who had dominated the state circuit for many years.

Alappuzha retained the men’s title with a narrow 3-2 win over Thiruvananthapuram.

Meanwhile, Alappuzha’s Jessmon Regis and Palakkads NK Haritha won the under-11 boys and girls singles.

Results (Inter-District Team Championship, Finals): Men: Alappuzha bt Thiruvananthapuram 3-2 (Amir Afthab bt Bharath Krishnan 3-1, Udit Bhattacharjee bt Senthil Kumar 3-2, Milan Nair lost to Ranjith Benny 0-3, Amir lost to Senthil 2-3, Udit bt Bharath 3-1).

Boys: Youth (under 19): Alappuzha bt Thiruvananthapuram 3-1; Junior (under 17): Palakkad bt Alappuzha 3-1; Juniors (under 15): Palakkad bt Alappuzha 3-2; Cadet (under 13): Ernakulam bt Alappuzha 3-0.

Ladies:Thiruvananthapuram bt Alappuzha 3-1 (Pranati P. Nair bt R. Aswani 3-2, KS Smrithi Krishna lost to Seraha Jacob 1-3, Gouri Nair bt Reeva Anna Michael 3-0, Pranati bt Seraha 3-1).

Girls: Youth: Thiruvananthapuram bt Thrissur 3-1; Junior: Thiruvananthapuram bt Alappuzha 3-1; Sub-junior: Thrissur beat Kollam 3-1; Cadet: Alappuzha bt Thrissur 3-2.

Open events (final): Under 11: Boys: Jessmon Regis (Alp) vs. Joseph Mathew Mampilly (ecm) 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7.

Girls: NK Harshitha (Pkd) bt Julia Jijo (Tsr) 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7.