New Delhi, February 22: Harmeet Desai entered the final of
the under-21 men’s singles final beating Brazilian Hugo Calderano 11-6, 11-4,
11-8, 11-5 at the $3.5 million Qatar Open Super Series Table Tennis
Championships in Doha on Friday night.
He will meet Frenchman Tristan Flore in the
final tomorrow. Flore defeated Benjamin Brossier in an all-French
semifinal encounter11-2, 11-9, 12-10, 11-3.
In a long time, the under-21 final will be between two
unseeded players who have come through qualifications to earn their respective
places.
In fact, Desai was victory was even sweeter as he accounted
for the Brazilian who defeated compatriot Soumyajit Ghosh, the No. 5 seed,
11-8, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9, 11-4 in the quarterfinals. Indeed, it was a very
impressive win for Desai who had been running a great form since the Senior
Nationals at Patna
this January. There he had accounted for top-seed Indian Sharath Kamal before
losing the men’s singles final to Sanil Shetty.
Playing a fast paced game, Desai never gave any opportunity
to his Brazilian rival and pinned him on the back foot. Not once did he relax
during the semifinal making it utterly impossible for Hugo. Desai summed up his
game nicely after the victory, saying, “I played faster than Soumyajit and
continued with it throughout my match. My style of attacking game upset Hugo.”
Both played an open game but what made the difference was
Desai’s making use of some close points that came his way. Having played Hugo
once before at in a tournament at Sweden , where he had lost to Hugo,
Desai was determined to outwit his rival. He also said he had spoken to
Soumyajit before the match and it helped to some extent.
Incidentally, Desai had won the Under 21 Men’s Singles
event, his one and only ITTF World Tour title to date, in June 2012 in the
Brazilian city of Santos
TTFI Press release
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