India’s Swastika Ghosh defeated compatriot Yashaswini Ghorphade 3-2 in what tuned out to be a gripping Under-19 girls final of the WTT (World Table Tennis) Contender event in Tunis, Tunisia.
However, a little while before, the silver medallist Yashaswini won gold in the Under-17 girls final, beating Egyptian Farida Badawy 11-6 14-12 11-7.
In the Under-19 final, Swastika defeated Yashaswini 6-11 11-6 6-11 11-6 11-8.
These were not the only successes in Tunis as the Indian paddlers collected all the gold on offer, besides some silver and bronze medals.
Suhana Saini accounted for Pritha Vartikar in the Under-15 girls final for her second international gold. She had earlier won the title during her Slovenia sojourn.
M Hansini was another Indian who excelled, winning gold in Under-13 girls event, beating Prisha Goel 11-5 11-8 11-8. In Under-11 girls category, Dhaani Jain emerged champion when she downed Ananya Muralidharan 11-4 11-6 9-11 10-12 11-7 in a tough final.
Playing her second final soon after a brief break from her gold-winning Under-17 event, the Bengaluru girl took on Mumbai’s Swastika in the Under-17 section. Nicely warmed up, Yashaswini won the first game before Swastika recovered to take the second. But the fight continued unabated, as the two shared the next two games and, in the decider, Swastika proved a notch better than Yashaswini.