Indian players dominate finals of the Boys Junior Singles at the Austrian Open – Table Tennis News
In a stunning turnaround, Indian Harmeet Desai has won the title of the Junior Boy’s Single event, in the Joola Austrian Junior and Cadet Event held in the city of Linz, Austria. The eight edition of the International Table Tennis Federation Junior circuit
event concluded on April 21, 2011.
The 17-year-old Desai had no chances to make it to the top when the tournament commenced. In fact, the finals itself was a surprise for all the players, as both the finalists were from India. It was the first time that two junior boy’s players from India
reached the finals of any ITTF Singles event.
Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai entered the tournament as the number one and number three seed, respectively. In 2009, Harmeet had reached the finals of the junior event held in China, but ended -up with a silver medal.
This time, Desai lifted his game and clinched the gold, after defeating his compatriot in a match of four games, scoring 11-8, 11-1, 7-11, 11-8, 15-13.
Before this event, the best Soumyajit Ghosh could do was to reach the semi-finals at the ITTF Junior Boy’s Singles event. In 2010, he reached the semi-finals on six occasions but was unable to win even one of them. In the ITTF World Championship of the junior
circuit held at Hyderabad, India lost in the pen-ultimate round of the event.
In the first round of the Junior Boy’s Singles event, Harmeet Desai encountered Lukasz Nadoski from Poland. It was an easy win for the Indian player, as he only gave away one game to his opponent 11-7, 12-10, 11-5, 12-10.
In the second round, he overcame a player from the host nation, Stefan Letgeb. The match was a challenging encounter as it extended to a full seven games 12-10, 10-12, 11-7, 11-4, 7-11, 11-13, 11-5.
In the semi-final stage, Harmeet defeated Do Phung Nam from Hungary, in a match of five games 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7, 11-6. The Hungarian player earlier caused a major upset in the championship, after he defeated Alexandre Robinot from France, who was a
strong contender for the title.
For Soumyajit Ghosh, the matters remained somewhat mixed. In the first round, he faced Sean Cullen from England and won the match in five games 11-6, 11-3, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6. He made his way to the finals after his back spins and powerful rallies helped him
put up a great show.
In the second match, the Indian ousted Hungarian Tamas Lakatos, who faced defeat with a score line of 11-8, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8. Tamas was the top-seeded player from Hungary and he has been pretty active this year in the ITTF junior circuit.
Ghosh competed against Croatian player Filip Cipin, in the semi-final of the event. The match ended with a score line of 8-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-7.
In an all-Indian final, Desai ousted Soumyajit to win his maiden title. The victory comes as a welcome note for badminton in India, as the players surprised all with their scintillating performances in the tournament.
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