Indian junior girls and cadet boys and girls make QF cuts

Mumbai, September 12, 2014: India’s junior girls and cadet boys found a common whipping horse in Singapore to qualify for the second stage to lift the morale of the hosts after the Junior Boys lost their group 2 matches 0-3 to both Japan and DPR Korea at the Reliance 20 th Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships at the Sardar Patel Stadium here today.

Later in the evening, Cadet Girls too made it to the knockout stage thrashing Jordan 3-0. But the Junior Boys, who have failed to make it to the quarterfinals, beat Thailand 3-2 but would be playing in the 9-14 positional matches.

India could have taken the top perch in Cadet Boys only if Manav Thakkar had sustained his aggression against Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chun-Hsiang. But he won both his reverse singles and combined well with doubles partner Akaash Nath to give a tough time to Taipei. But it was Thakkar match against Chen Chun-Hsiang which set the ball rolling.

In fact, Thakkar should have won the match after leading 2-0 and in the decider 10-8. But a couple of net errors at the crucial match points reversed the fortune in favour of the Taipei boy. Undaunted, he combined well with Nath to win the doubles and his reverse singles. This was probably the trigger for the team to do well against Singapore where both Thakkar and Nath wore down their rivals to win 3-2 and go through.

As for the Junior Girls, Ayhika was the star winning both her singles against Singapore’s Hui Li Tay (11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8) and Herng Hwee Yee (8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5). The Indian, down 0-2, struck form suddenly to surprise her rival in the third game. From there, it was the Indian all the way as Yee lost the next two games tamely.

With China and South Korea in Junior Boys section and China and Japan in Junior Girls category sitting pretty with direct entry into the quarterfinals to be played tomorrow, the onus was on group toppers to maintain their pre-eminence and without a hiccup they took their appointed place after beating their rivals.

Joining them in the quarterfinal race in the Junior Boys category were DPR Korea, Kazakhstan and Singapore, while in the Junior Girls section, Chinese Taipei and Thailand besides hosts India.

In the Cadet Boys’ section, group 4 saw some extraordinary results with No. 4 team Bahrain scoring over both Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka. In terms of reputation, Bahrain was a relatively a weak team considering the potential of Kazakhstan. But the former surprised both the Kazakhs as well as the Sri Lankans to take the second place behind Japan. Bahrain beat Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka by a similar 3-0 margin while losing by the same score to Japan.

Results:

Junior Boys: Group 1: Chinese Taipei bt Singapore 3-0, Singapore bt Bahrain 3-0, Iran lost to Chinese Taipei 0-3, Bahrain lost to Iran 1-3, , Singapore bt Iran 3-1; Group 2: Japan bt Thailand 3-0, India lost to Japan 0-3, Thailand lost to DPR Korea 0-3, DPR Korea bt India 3-1, India bt Thailand 3-2 (Lalrin Puia lost to Supanut W 3-11, 9-11, 11-6, 9-11, Abhishek Yadav bt Komgrit Sangpao 12-10, 11-5, 11-9, Utkarsh Gupta bt Nithipat Pimrat 11-6, 6-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-9, Abhishek Yadav lost to Supanut W. 5-11, 3-11, 11-7, 8-11, Lalrin Puia bt Komgrit Sangpao 11-9, 11-5, 11-8); Group 3: Hong Kong bt Kazakhstan 3-0, Hong Kong bt Qatar 3-0, Hong Kong bt Pakistan 3-0, Kazakhstan bt Pakistan 3-0, Qatar bt Pakistan 3-1; Japan bt DPR Korea 3-0; Chinese Taipei bt Bahrain 3-0; Kazakhstan bt Qatar 3-1.

Cadet Boys: Group 1: China bt Hong Kong 3-0; China bt Iran 3-0; Group2: Chinese Taipei bt India 3-2 (Lin Yun-Ju bt Akaash Nath 11-3, 11-8,1-7; Chen Chun-Hsiang bt Manav Thakkar 7-11, 4-11, 11-6, 11-5, 12-10; Lin Yun-Ju/Lin Hsin-Yang lost to Thakkar/Nath 7-11, 11-7, 7-11, 7-11; Lin Yun-Ju lost to Manav Thakkar 11-7, 7-11, 7-11, 11-8, 5-11; Chen Chun-Hsiang bt Akaash Nath 12-10, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7); Chinese Taipei bt Singapore 3-1, India bt Singapore 3-2 (Akaash Nath lost to Shao Feng Ethan Poh 3-11, 4-11, 11-9, 6-11, Manav Thakkar bt Lucas Tan 11-9, 11-6, 4-11, 11-8, Thakkar/Nath bt Shao Feng/Lucas 7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9, Manav Thakkar lost to Shao Feng Ethan 11-6, 8-11, 4-11, 9-11, Akaash Nath bt Lucas Tan 8-11, 5-11, 11-3, 12-10, 11-7). Group 3: Korean Rep. bt Thailand 3-0; Group 4: Japan bt Sri Lanka 3-0; Japan bt Kazakhstan 3-0; Bahrain bt Sri Lanka 3-0; Bahrain bt Kazakhstan 3-0, Japan bt Bahran 3-0, Sri Lanka bt Kazakhstan 3-1.

Junior Girls: Group 1: Hong Kong bt Chinese Taipei 3-0; Hong Kong bt Sri Lanka 3-0,Chinese Taipei bt Sri Lanka 3-0; Group 2: South Korea bt Singapore 3-0; South Korea bt India 3-0, India bt Singapore 3-1 (Sagarika Mukherjee lost to Herng Hwee Yee 11-9, 11-13, 3-11, 5-11, Ayhika Mukherjee bt Hui Li Tay 11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, Priyadarshini Das bt En Hui Tan 11-7, 11-7, 11-7, Ayhika Mukherjee bt Herng Hwee Yee 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5); Group 3: DPR Korea bt Thailand 3-1; DPR Korea bt Iran 3-0; Thailand bt Jordan 3-0; Iran bt Jordan 3-0, Thailand bt Iran 3-0, DPR Korea bt Jordan 3-0.

Cadet Girls: Group 1: India bt Jordan 3-0 (Shruti Amrute bt Tina Alkhoury 11-4, 11-5, 11-5, Naina bt Lima Khater 11-2, 11-5, 11-1, Naina/Archana Kamath bt Tina/Lima 11-7, 11-5, 11-1), China bt India 3-0, China bt Jordan 3-0; Group 2: Japan bt Kazakhstan 3-0, Japan bt Chinese Taipei 3-0; Group 3: Thailand lost to South Korea 1-3, Thailand bt Sri Lanka 3-0; Group 4: Hong Kong bt Singapore 3-0, Hong Kong bt Iran 3-1; Singapore bt Iran 3-1.