Jennifer is hoping to win medals at the Doha Asian meet

By Paratosh Pramanik

Fresh off her medal wins in the recently concluded tournaments in Peru and Brazil, Nagpur international paddler Jennifer Varghese will look to continue her excellent performance at the 27th Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships to be held in Doha from 17 to 22. July. The Indian Table Tennis Association announced a 14-member team for the continental championship, which includes seven boys and as many girls. Jennifer was selected for the Indian team in May itself after winning all the gold medals on offer at the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships held in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. Jennifer started the season with a gold medal in the Under-17 competition in Hyderabad.

En route to the title, the ever-improving 15-year-old Jennifer had stunned second seed and experienced Sutirtha Mukherjee. Jennifer had to settle for silver medals at the World Table Tennis Star Youth Contender in Lima Peru in June. But taking the disappointment in stride, Jennifer upped her game a few notches and won double gold in the next match held in Brazil. He won the under-15 singles and mixed doubles gold medals to get back on the golden path.

“Winning double gold medals in Brazil has given me a lot of confidence and I’m going to use all my experience in Doha,” Jennifer told “The Hitavada”. “The competition will be completely different in the Asian meet but I will try to give my best and win medals for the country,” Jennifer, who trains under R Rajesh at the ITTC Center in Chennai, said confidently. Jennifer is looking to earn valuable points and be selected for the ITTF Junior World Championships in Nova Garcia, Slovenia in November. While the winners of the continental competition in the U-19 and U-15 boys and girls will make a direct qualification for the Slovenian championships, the Indian boys and girls can hope to secure one of the six spots in the two sections, the individual standings. 20 places and double the combined world ranking points. Jennifer, who is on a city break, will leave for Chennai on July 8. The team leaves for Qatar on the night between the 15th and 16th. July. GROUPS Girls: Jennifer Varghese, Yashaswini Ghorpade, Suhana Saini, Taneesha Kotecha, Avisha Karmakar, Sayanika Maji and Sayali Wani. Coaches: Anindita Chakraborty, Jay Modak and R Rajesh. Boys: Ankur Bhattacharjee, Divyan Srivastava, Jash Modi, PB Abhinand, Sarth Mishra, Punit Biswas and Priyanuj Bhattacharyya.