NEW DELHI, June 18: India claimed both the junior boys and cadet girls team championship titles at the South Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships at the Talkatora Stadium here today.
With just five teams in fray in the junior boys section, the Indian paddlers kept a clean slate winning all the four matches, without dropping a set, to retain the team title.
Similarly, the cadet girls, too, performed as expected and won all their matches without a hiccup to complete the formalities.
Sri Lanka’s junior boys won silver and Pakistan, who finished third and Maldives behind them, will get the bronze.
Sri Lanka also got the silver in cadet girls category while Nepal, who ended third, and Pakistan will get the bronze medals.
The junior boys’ team, comprising Lalrinpuia, Utkarsh Gupta and Ravindra Kotiyan, first beat Pakistan 3-0 and followed it up with another 3-0 triumph over Nepal in the forenoon. Though it was a foregone conclusion what was not expected was Maldives beating Pakistan 3-2.
The tiny island nation, with promising young paddlers in their ranks, carved out a morale boosting win over Pakistan in the morning. Naseem Seesth was the star performer for the team as he downed Nazir Muhammad Abdullah 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 in the second singles and then accounted for Abid Iqbal for a 10-12, 15-13, 11-9, 14-12 tough win in the second singles. However, it was left to Maizar Adam Zahir who triumphed over Nazir Muhammad in the crucial fifth rubber to turn the tide in favour of Maldives.
In cadet girls, India had a complete control over Nepal but struggled a bit against Sri Lanka, particularly in the doubles, where Archana was combining with Varuni Jaiswal, to begin with. After losing the first game by the minimum point at 9-11, the Indian duo came into its grove to thump the Lankan pair of Hansani Kapoogikiyana and Thanushi Rodrigo, a doubles specialist. That was the only glitch but otherwise the Indian domination was complete.
The evening session will see the beginning of individual and doubles events today with the finals slated for tomorrow. (PTI)
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