Better preparation helped bag Youth Girls TT title: Madhurika

Mumbai, Jan 5 (UNI) Madhurika Patkar from Thane today credited her Youth Girls Singles National title to better preparation and not leaving anything to chance.

She was speaking at the meet the press, organised by the Maharashtra State Table Tennis Association (MSTTA) here, wherein all the medal winners from the state in the junior national championship were introduced to the media.

On her win, Madhurika said the main change in her game was not thinking about losing and never giving up in any situation.

''I do not believe in luck and only believe in 100 per cent hard work,'' the young Thane lass added.

She thanked former international table tennis player Kamlesh Mehta as being the inspiration for her.

The Youth Boys Singles National champion Aniket Koparkar from Pune attributed his win to the people who helped him in his game, like his parents and coach Sunil Babras.

He thanked Air India for sponsoring him and taking care of the airfares so that he could travel abroad and get more exposure.

The other juniors who did Maharashtra proud at the junior nationals - the Junior Girls team Divya Deshpande, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, Saveri Rathod and Priti Mokashi, winners of the team championship and Cadet girls singles winner Mallika Bhandarkar also spoke about their experiences on playing in the nationals.

The MSTTA also announced its plans for the players with the main focus being on the Youth Commonwealth Games in 2008 in Pune and the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010.

UNI