Indian challenge at Japan Open ends

New Delhi, June 21, 2014: Indian challenge at the 2014 ITTF World Tour Japan Open Superseries came to an end when Jun Mizutani beat Achanta Sharath Kamal 11-4, 11-5, 11-6, 13-11 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $300,000 event this afternoon.

Earlier in the morning, Soumyajit Ghosh exited from the semifinals, going down in straight games to Hugo Calderano of Brazil in the u-21 singles. The Brazilian, who won 11-9, 11-8, 11-4, 11-6 at Yokohama, has come a long way from his early shaky appearances to beat the Indian.

It was no shame for the top-ranked Indian in the world to go down to the higher-ranked Japanese, but what was disturbing was the meek surrender of Sharath Kamal. In fact, the Indian was kept on a tight leash right from the beginning by the classy Japanese and it took the toll on a normally fighting Sharath Kamal. Unfortunately, the Indian was rendered clueless on the day as Mizutani kept exploiting Sharath’s weak backhands.

As for the u-21 semifinals, Hugo was all concentration on the day and it showed in his game. Matching stroke for stroke, he did not give much leeway to the Indian who seemed good in the first two games. Ghosh, however, could not sustain the pace needed to outwit the Brazilian who was clinical in his approach throughout the semifinal match.

Ghosh admitted to his folly of not continuing with his attacking game. “I made far too many mistakes and could not reply as well as I should have to my rival. He seized the chances and scored many winners of my negative play,” said Ghosh, who had beaten Hugo in the Brazil Open two years ago in the pre-quarterfinals.

Peter Engel, the foreign coach, was happy with the way the Indians had prepared for the CWG Glasgow. “The twin tour of Korea and Japan has given our paddlers a very good match practice and they have done reasonably well in the two top-class events. I am happy for their good showing,” said the coach.

India’s men paddlers will return to India before departing for the Commonwealth Games next month. Meanwhile, the women paddlers who are training in China too will join them after their training stint.

TTFI Press release