MUMBAI: India’s junior girls and cadet boys found a common whipping horse in Singapore to qualify for the second stage and lift the hosts’ morale after the junior boys lost their group matches 0-3 to Japan and DPR Korea at the Reliance Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships here today.
The junior boys, who have failed to make the quarterfinals, would be playing the 9-14 positional matches. But the cadet girls can make the quarter-final cut provided they beat Jordan in round three later tonight.
India could have taken the top perch in cadet boys after the way Manav Thakkar had played against Chinese Taipei. He won both his reverse singles and combined well with doubles partner Akaash Nath to give a tough time to Taipei. But before that Thakkar played a wonderful 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.
Results: 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 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.
