Gurugram, Oct. 14 -- Three years after she first picked up a table tennis bat, ten-year-old Phalgun Gupta from Gurugram has emerged a national champion, winning gold in the Under-11 category at the Second National Table Tennis Ranking Tournament in Panchkula on October 9. Gupta emerged victorious in a field of nearly 140 participants at the tournament held from October 6 to 13, securing the top spot in the national Under-11 category. She had won silver in the same competition last year. This year, she won the gold by in an all-Haryana girls' final, defeating state mate Mahi Kumar 3-1. Haryana sports minister Gaurav Gautam congratulated Gupta on her achievement, saying the state's young women athletes were bringing honour to Haryana across sports. A resident of Sector 67A in Gurugram, Gupta was introduced to table tennis at six when she accompanied her parents to drop off her older brother at a table tennis coaching academy. Fascinated by the game, she began playing herself a year later. "I saw my brother play table tennis, and I was drawn towards the sport, and started playing by the age of seven. Since then there is no looking back," Gupta told HT. "To me, table tennis brings peace. I feel very calm and confident when I have the bat in my hand. It has given me more confidence," she added. Gupta hopes to represent India at the Commonwealth Games soon. The young athlete trains under coach Mrinal Mondal, a former national-level table tennis player, at MeSoTT (Mrinal's Elite School of Table Tennis), at Shri Chaitanya Academy in Sector 57. "Phalgun has brought immense pride to us. I have been training her for almost two years now, and what stands out in her is the passion and hunger to achieve," Mondal said. Ahead of the tournament, Gupta trained for six hours a day. According to Mondal, she has developed an unusual command of a bat fitted with combination rubbers, a technique that typically takes players years to master. The coach said Gupta also holds the second position in Haryana's under-13 rankings and fourth in the under-15 category....