Nashik's Tanisha Kotecha Wins Historic WTT Gold; Sayali Wani Bags Bronze
· Free Press Journal
Nashik: Nashik's Tanisha Kotecha created history by winning the women's doubles gold medal at the WTT Feeder International Table Tennis Tournament held in Istanbul, partnering with Swastika Ghosh of Raigad. This marks the first-ever senior-level WTT gold medal won by a table tennis player from Nashik.
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The tournament featured top women paddlers from Japan, Chinese Taipei, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Türkiye, Spain, Portugal, France, Russia, Italy, and Slovenia.
In the quarterfinals, Tanisha and Swastika defeated France's Cléa De Stoppeleire and Alice Pujol 3-1. They followed it up with another 3-1 victory over the strong Chinese Taipei pair of Tsai Yun and Hung Yu-Ge in the semifinals. In the final, the Indian duo outclassed the Netherlands' Shuohan Men and Slovenia's Ana Tofant 3-0 to clinch the championship and the gold medal.
Meanwhile, Sayali Wani of Nashik secured the bronze medal in the women's singles event. She began her campaign with a thrilling 3-2 win over Japan's Kotona Okada in the Round of 32. Okada had won the previous WTT Feeder event held in Cappadocia, Türkiye.
Sayali then edged past Germany's Franziska Schreiner 3-2 before defeating Russia's Maria Panfilova by the same margin in the quarterfinals. Her impressive run ended in the semifinals, where she lost 3-0 to Russia's Arina Sloutina, settling for the bronze medal.
Tanisha Kotecha is currently ranked World No. 142, while Sayali Wani holds the World No. 150 ranking in women's singles.
The duo's achievements were congratulated by Narendra Chhajed, President of the Nashik District Table Tennis Association, along with Vice-President Rajesh Bharvirkar, Milind Kachole, Treasurer Abhishek Chhajed, coach Jay Modak, Vaibhav Joshi, Alka Kulkarni, Sanjay Vasant, and Suhas Agharkar.