Selena Selvakumar wins three golds in age-group Egypt table tennis
Selena Selvakumar was in top form in the Egyptian table tennis tournament at Sharm El Sheikh. The Chennai girl won three gold medals, including the junior singles title.
other sports Updated: Oct 16, 2017 20:34 IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Selena Selvakumar completed a golden sweep in the Egypt Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Open. The Chennai girl added the junior girls’ singles and doubles titles at Sharm El Sheikh late on Sunday evening.
The 17-year-old Selena had won the girls’ team gold on Friday. Strikingly, she remained unbeaten all through this elite 2017 ITTF World Junior Circuit event.
Top-seeded Selena Selvakumar had to fight her way to the singles’ gold. Her last two matches against the Alhodaby sisters went all the way to the wire.
Selena first overcame eighth-seeded Mariam Alhodaby 4-3 (11-9, 11- 8, 10-12, 8-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5) in the semifinal and then in the title-round, she beat second seed Marwa Alhodaby 4-3 (11-5, 12-10, 8-11, 6-11, 11-3, 6-11, 11-4).
Selena paired up with Nigeria’s Esther Oribamise in the doubles and proved to be equally effective. They beat the Egypt-Greek duo of Farida Badawy and Malamatenia Papadimitriou 3-2 (11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9) to clinch the gold.
In the semifinals, Selena and Esther routed Egypt’s Sarah Abousetta and Tunisia’s Abir Haj Sarah 3-2 (11–7, 4-11, 13-11, 9-11, 12-10).
