India, Oct. 3 -- The past three months have been quite a ride for Divyanshi Bhowmick. This July, the 14-year-old table tennis player became the first Indian in 36 years to win the U-15 girls' singles continental title, beating China's Zhu Qihi 4-2 (13-11, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8) in the final of the Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The title capped a stunning run for Divyanshi who beat Chinese opponents in the quarter-final and in the semi-final as well, marking a rare, if not unprecedented, occasion of an Indian paddler thoroughly dominating the Chinese.

Coming into the Asian event, Divyanshi had beaten Qihi, the finalist, once before while Yang Huize and Liu Ziling, the quarter and semi-finalists, ...