Nanjing, August 18, 2013: It was a mixed bag for the
two-member Indian table tennis team at the second Asian Youth Games here as
Abhishek Yadav entered to the quarterfinals in the men’s singles to keep
India’s medal hope in the sport, while it was curtains for Suthirtha Mukherjee,
who bowed out in the pre-quarterfinals here this evening.
Yadav defeated Iran ’s Soroosh Amiri Nia 4-2 (6-11,
4-11, 117, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8) in a 44-minute pre-quarterfinal duel. The Indian,
competing at the Games as an Independent Olympic Athletic under OCA flag
following the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), was slow to
start with, losing the first two games in just 11 minutes.
Yadav will meet Malaysian Dunley Foo in the
quarter-finals tomorrow morning. Foo subdued Japanese Tonin Ruzakiy
4-3 in the pre-quarterfinals.
Yadav, however, upped the ante in the next two rather
comfortably to restore parity. But in the fifth game, Yadav trailed 1-5 before
making a steady progress to level the score at 7-all. From there on, it dragged
for a while as both the Iranian and the Indian were level at 9-9. With serve
on, the Indian simply shut out the Iranian challenge to go 3-2 up.
That was the indication for Yadav to go all out in the next
game as he ran up a good lead at 5-1. But Nia managed to bring himself back
into the match by reducing the margin to mere two points. However, the day
belonged to the Indian who increased the lead to four points at 10-6. Serving
for the game and match, he made errors at the net and sent one out to allow his
opponent two crucial points. But Nia returned the compliment on his service and
the Indian, without wasting any time, clinched the points with a forehand
scorcher.
“The fifth game was crucial. The moment I won it, I grew in
confidence and went all out in the sixth. My attacking game paid dividends,”
said the left-handed Yadav.
But for the fifth seeded Suthirtha Mukherjee, it was all
over for the Kolkata youngster as she failed to match the guile of Seul Lee or
Korea who won 4-0 (11-7, 11-7, 13-11, 11-4). The Korean took just 28 minutes to
clean up Suthirtha who, despite going neck and neck in the first two games at
6-6, lost the initiative. In the third she fought valiantly but the Korean clinched
the game at 13-11. In the next the Indian’s drooping shoulders told the tale as
the Korean finished the game in just four minutes.
A TTFI Press release
