With Rio Olympics round the corner, the Indian contingent is gearing up to make the nation proud with their performance in Rio de Janerio. On the other hand, the junior athletes are flourishing everywhere - on courts, mats, turfs, and table.
Archana Girish Kamath is already a star in the making. The calm and collected paddler from Bengaluru has been thriving in the circuit for the last couple of years. She has been a regular on the ITTF World Junior Circuit, competing in Tunisia, Mauritius, Qatar, Algeria, and the Czech Republic.
The 16-year-old had a superb run at the 2016 Morocco Junior and Cadet Open dominating the Junior Girls singles, doubles, and team event. She teamed up with host nations' Rime Nehli and clinched the team title.
In the girls singles, she got the better of Algeria’s Hiba Feredj in a closely-fought contest. The Bengaluru youngster partnered Rime Nehli and won the finals defeating Morocco’s Aya Abouhind who partnered Algeria’s Hiba Feredj (11-9, 11-6, 11-6). Three wins from as many events meant Archana Kamath returned from Morocco as the most successful paddler.
In the 2015 World Junior Championships, the OGQ-supported paddler partnered Czech Republic’s Tomas Polansky and lost in the quarter-final to eventual champions - China’s Xue Fei and Chen Ke.