Chinese eat into Indian medal, money shares

Mumbai, October 17, 2013: A minor Chinese incursion was good enough to deprive the hosts a clean sweep of team gold medals at the Reliance India Junior and Cadet Open as the visitors made a short work of India A in the Junior Girls section to take the yellow metal in the $8,000 event at the NSCI Stadium here today.  

The two unranked Chinese Yanmei Yang and Anqi Li surprised India A’s Manika Batra and  Suthirtha Mukherjee, both ranked No. 30 and No. 60 in the world respectively, for the second time in two days to win the final 3-1 and earn $500 for their fine efforts. The other three categories saw the hosts winning the remaining three gold medals and a major share of the prize money.

In fact, all the silver medals went the hosts’ way with a few bronze—losing semifinalists get bronze—too falling into their laps to make larger booty for India.

However, one sad aspect of the team championships will be the loss by India A girls as they failed to pick themselves up in the face of a good, calculated assault by the two Chinese girls. Appearing on the international scene for the first time, both the paddlers showed why they are the world-beaters in this sport.

Manika started on a brave note, attacking from both flanks, to win her first two games against Anqi Li. But the Chinese, surprised by Manka’s attacking game slowed down a bit to upset the Indian’s rhythm. It seemed to have worked well for Li who took the next game, but a cautious Manika put an end to the Chinese design by winning the fourth to take the first rubber 5-11, 5-11, 11-6, 5-11.

But Suthirtha, the weak link in the team, could not measure up to the pace of Yanmei Yang. The latter just mowed her down in straight games after rattling her in the first in less than six minutes at 11-3. However hard Suthirtha tried in the next games, she was not able to counter those scorching forehands from Yang.

With the doubles rubber too in their pocket, it was left to Li to take on Manika in her reverse singles. Manika had the measure of her opponent, leading 2-0 in the fourth rubber. But she lost her way with several unforced errors in the third game which Li took 12-10 to trail 1-2. This was when the Chinese aggression showed its way and Li just allowed three points to her opponent in the game. With the gold just a game away, Li’s pounding with crucial winners brooked little challenge from Manika.

The India A combine of Abhishek Yadav and Sudhanshu Grover defeated Chinmay Vinod and Sanish Ambekar of India E 3-0 without any inhibition in the Junior Boys final. In fact, no one expected the unranked Vinod and Ambekar to roll their opponents over, but in the semifinals they had already spoilt the reputation of Utkarsh Gupta (261) and Sabhya Virmani(380). The two world-ranked Delhi players surrendered meekly to the guiles of Vinod and Sanish.

 Though the Cadet Boys’ and Girls’ gold medals went to India A teams, the Cadet Boys semifinal saw an interesting duel between India C and India B which the former won 3-1. India B’s Ayush Tayal and Arjun Ghosh, who were in great form until them, bowed out in the semifinals when Lalrin Puia and Lalhunhlua, the two boys from Mizoram, playing excellent games to outwit the experienced Tayal and Ghosh. Puia, in particular, proved to be a hard nut to crack as he won both his singles to pave their way into the final.

In the Cadet Girls’, India A’s Calange Ravichandran and Sagarika Mukherjee beat India B’s Moumita Dutta and Sreeja Akula 3-1. The later, giving a good fight, managed to win the doubles.

The Results:

Junior Boys:  Final: India A bt India E 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Chinmay Vinod 11-9, 11-8, 11-6, Abhishek Yadav bt Sanish Ambekar 11-4, 11-5, 11-7, Grover/Yadav bt Sanish/Vinod 11-5, 12-10, 11-8; Semi-finals: India A bt India C 3-0 (Abhishek Yadav bt Rohit Rajasekhar 6-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-6, Sudhanshu Grover bt Sameera Kumar 12-10, 11-7, 4-11, 11-6, Yadav/Grover bt Rohit/Sameera 11-2, 11-8, 11-8; India E bt India B 3-1 (Chinmay Vinod bt Sabhya Virmani 11-7, 12-10, 11-9, Sanish Ambekar bt Utkarsh Gupta 9-11, 12-10, 11-9, 14-12, Sanish/Vinod lost to Sabhya/Utkarsh 12-10, 7-11, 9-11, 3-11, Chinmay Vinod bt Utkarsh Gupta 11-7, 11-8, 11-5.

Junior Girls: Final: China bt India A 3-1 (Anqi Li lost to Manika Batra 5-11, 5-11, 11-6, 5-11, Yanmei Yang bt Suthirtha Mukherjee 11-3, 11-8, 11-8, Li/Yang bt Manika/Suthirtha 11-6, 11-4, 11-8, Yanmei Yang bt Manika Batra 8-11, 11-13, 12-10, 11-3, 11-5; Semi-finals: China bt China-India 3-0 (Anqi Li bt Senhora D’Souza 14-12, 11-4, 11-8, Yanmei Yang bt Xiaotong Sun 11-7, 11-3, 9011, 11-8, Li/Yang bt D’Souza/Sun 11-4, 11-7, 11-7; India A bt India B 3-0 (Manika Batra bt Ayhika Mukherjee 5-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6, Suthirtha Mukherjee bt Reeth Tennison 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9, Manika/Suthirtha bt Ayhika/Reeth 11-9, 13-15, 12-10, 11-9.

Cadet Boys: Final: India A bt India C 3-1 (Birdie Boro lost to Lalhunhlua 4-11, 7-11, 8-11, Anirban Ghosh bt Lalrin Puia 11-9, 11-8, 11-5, Boro/Ghosh bt Lalhunhlua/Puia 11-8, 11-6, 11-6, Anirban Ghosh bt Lalhunhlua 11-5, 11-5, 10-12, 11-8; Semi-finals: India A bt China 3-1 (Birdie Boro bt Yuhao Wang 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 13-11, Anirban Ghosh bt Beizeng Wang 11-9, 12-10, 6-11, 11-13, 11-7, Boro/Ghosh lost to Yuhao/Beizeng 4-11, 6-11, 11-13, Anirban Ghosh bt Yuhao Wang 14-12, 8-11, 11-9, 5-11, 12-10; India C bt India B 3-1 (Lalhunhlua bt Arjun Ghosh 11-9, 11-7, 11-8, Lalrin Puia bt Ayush Tayal 11-6, 11-6, 11-3, Lalhunhlua/Puia lost to Arjun/Ayush 3-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 7-11, Lalrin Puia bt Arjun Ghosh 11-5, 2-11, 11-4, 5-11, 11-7.

 Cadet Girls: Final: India A bt India B 3-1 (Calange Ravichandran bt Sreeja Akula 6-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-8, Sagarika Mukherjee bt Moumita Dutta 11-3, 7-11, 11-6, 11-7, Calange/Sagarika lost to Akula/Dutta 12-10, 11-4, 6-11, 6-11, 7-11, Sagarika Mukherjee bt Sreeja Akula 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 10-12, 12-10; Semi-finals: India B bt Hong Kong-India Sreeja Akula bt Aishwarya Pathak 11-7, 4-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5, Moumita Dutta bt Desiree Hung 12-10, 11-9, 11-6, Sreeja/Moumita bt Aishwarya/Hung 11-6, 6-11, 11-4, 17-15; India A bt India C 3-0 (Clange Ravichandran bt A. Naina 12-10, 11-7, 11-9, Sagarika Mukherjee bt Shruti Vijay Amrute 11-9, 5-11, 8-11, 17-15, 11-2, Calange/Sagarika bt Naina/Shruti 12-10, 12-10, 11-9.

A TTFI Press release