Date:08/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/08/stories/2007090857092000.htm

Sport - Table Tennis

A clutch of medals, some valuable experience for Indian juniors

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: The Indian junior table tennis team, which trained and later played in the ITTF World junior circuit tournament in Tai Yuan, China, returned home with a clutch of medals and some valuable experience.

The team, which was accompanied by a panel of Indian coaches including former National doubles champion, G.K. Vishwanth, V. Vasu, Vijay Sarathy and Rajeshwari Maitre, won one gold in the girls’ under-12 singles, two bronze medals in the boys’ u-15 singles and a silver and a bronze in the boys’ u-15 team event, and a bronze in the girls’ u-15 team championship.

Players from over 12 countries, including China, Korea, Uzbekistan, Sweden, Norway, Iran and Hong Kong participated in the event held from August 22 to 26.

In a chat with The Hindu, Vishwanath commended the performance and adaptability of the Indians to the demanding local conditions.

He said Mallika Bhadrakar won the girls’ u-12 singles gold beating China’s Liu Ting in the final 4-3, while in the boys’ u-15 singles, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai, bagged a bronze each.

“Sathiyan, who trains in Chandra’s Academy in Chennai, put up an outstanding performance and he went down fighting in the semifinals to the champion, Lee Seung Jun of Korea in seven games and lost the decider on extra points 10-12. “The youngster received a standing ovation from the spectators and players for his gritty display,” Vishwanath said.

Harmeet Desai lost in the semifinals to Choh Chi of Hong Kong, while Raj Mondal lost in the quarterfinals to Lee Seung Jun. In the boys’ u-18 singles, Shubam Sharma lost in the quarterfinals to Gao Fan of China. In the girls’ u-15 singles, Shreya Ghosh of India lost to Kristina of Hungary in the quarterfinals. In the team events, India, China and Korea fielded two teams each and India I claimed a silver in the boys’ u-15 section which was won by Korea.

India I had a creditable 3-1 victory over China I in the semifinals with Sathiyan winning both his singles matches. India II lost in the semifinals to Korea. The Indian girls also claimed a bronze in the u-15 team event, losing to China I in the semifinals.