Gujarat paddler Daniya wins gold, bronze on international debut

Gandhidham: Gujarat’s prolific paddler Daniya Godil started her international career in style after she won a gold and a bronze medal in the recently concluded WTT Youth Contender Amman held at the Princess Soumaya Hall in Amman, Jordan from August 22 to 25.

The 11-year-old Daniya emerged winner in the girls U-11 category where she beat local girls Eileen Threiwat 3-0 (11-4,11-1,11-2) and Linda Al-Darwish 3-0 (11-2,11-3,11-1) in the semi-final and the final respectively.

Gujarat no.1 in U-13 girls, Daniya, who is a student of Tapti Valley International School, had to settle for bronze in the U-13 category after she lost to India’s Divyanshi Bhowmick 0-3 (5-11,5-11,10-12) in their semi-final encounter.

During the group matches, the Surat girl had clean-swept Jana Althrawat (Jordan) 3-0 (11-2,11-3,11-5), Eileen Threiwat (Jordan) 3-0 (11-4,11-7,11-5) and Bissan Chiri (Lebanon) 3-0 (11-5,11-4,11-5) before losing to Vania Yavari (Lebanon) 0-3 (6-11,8-11,5-11) to finish in two top in the group thus making it to the semifinals.

Delighted with Daniya’s super show, president, Gujarat State Table Tennis Association, Pramod Chaudhary said that Daniya is a classic example of girls doing well when they start young. “Daniya is just 11 and she is already performing well at international level. She is a talent we will groom for the future,” he said.