New Delhi: Of the 12 gold medals on offer, the Indian boys and girls wrapped up their outing with 11 of them in the South Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships that concluded in Male today.
India did not field a team in the Junior Boys team, resulting in the loss of another sure-shot gold. With the near-sweep of gold apart, the team members also boosted their overall tally with 10 silver medals to stamp their authority for the nth time in the regional event.
The Indians won four singles and four doubles titles, besides three team gold medals.
The four-day championships that began on May 9 saw complete domination of the Indian squads in both the team events, the doubles and the singles. The gold in the Junior Boys team went to Bangladesh. Teams like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the hosts, Maldives, had to settle for the lesser medals.
All but one of the singles finals featured Indians. P. Abhinand, Suhana Saini, Payas Jain and Jennifer Varghese won the gold medals, leaving the silver to their compatriots. However, in the Cadet Girls final, Jennifer locked horns in the final with D. Fatimah of Maldives and won 4-1.
THE RESULTS:
CADET GIRLS TEAM FINALS
India bt Nepal 3-0 (Jennifer bt Evana 11-1,11-5, 11-4, Hansini bt Bianca 11-3, 11-6, 11-6, Jennifer/Sandika bt Evana/Bianca 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8).
CADET BOYS TEAM FINALS
India bt Pakistan 3-0 (P Abhinand bt Ahmad 7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5, R Balamurugan bt Abbas Amjad 11-4, 11-4, 11-8, Priyanuj Bhattacharya/P Abhinand bt Ahmad/Abbas Amjad 11-4, 11-9, 11-5.
JUNIOR GIRLS TEAM FINAL
India bt Sri Lanka 3-1 (Suhana Saini bt Bimandee 11-7, 11-6, 11-5, Nithyasree Mani lost to Ayla Chitty 11-2, 4-11, 8-11, 6-11, Yashswini Ghorpade bt Maneesha 11-3, 11-4, 11-7, Nithyasree Mani bt Bimandee 11-8, 11-6, 12-10.
CADET BOYS’ DOUBLE FINALS
R Balamurugan/P Abhinand (Ind) bt Ahmed Muhammad/Abbas Amjad (Pak) 11-2, 11-5, 12-10.
CADET GIRLS DOUBLES FINALS
Jennifer Varghese/Sandika Bhattacharjee (Ind) bt Hoor Fawad/Haiqa Hassan (Pak) 11-6, 11-6, 11-4.
JUNIOR BOYS’ DOUBLES FINALS
Ankur Bhattacharjee/Patil Deepit Rajesh (Ind) bt Kulappuwawadu Dulsen/ Dhanushka Wijesinghe (SRI) 11-8, 11-4, 11-9.
JUNIOR GIRLS DOUBLES FINALS
Suhana Saini/Yashaswini Ghorpade bt S Bimandee/Ayla Sharik Chitty (SL) 11-3, 11-5, 11-9.
CADET BOYS SINGLES FINAL
P Abhinand (IND) bt R Balamurugan (Ind) 11-4. 11-5, 11-7.
JUNIOR GIRLS SINGLES FINAL
Suhana Saini (IND) bt Yashaswini Ghorpade (Ind) 11-9, 8-11, 11-8,11-9.
JUNIOR BOYS SINGLES FINAL
Payas Jain (IND) bt Yashansh Malik (Ind) 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-3.
CADET GIRLS SINGLES FINAL
Jennifer Varghese (Ind) bt Fatimah D (MDV) 13-11, 4-11, 11-5, 11-13, 11-6.
