Bahrain: Top-ranked Soumyajit Ghosh did the star turn for the country as he won both his matches to help India upset fourth-seed South Korea 3-2 in the Volkswagen World Junior Table Tennis Championships here on Monday.
This is the first time ever that any Indian table tennis team has entered semi-finals of a world meet and assured itself of a medal. In the last junior world championships, India had won a mixed bronze. They take No. 1 ranked China in the semi-finals on Tuesday morning.
Seeded fifth at the Bahrain meet, India began with Harmeet Desai who defeated Chan-Hyeok Park 13-11, 8-11,11-8, 11-5 after losing the first game narrowly. His perseverance against the attacking Korean paid off as he wore his opponent down to put India ahead.
Then Soumyajit Ghosh, who is in the best of form of his career, downed Dong Hyun Kim in straight games to win 11-8, 11-9, 11-9. But G. Sathiyan, playing the third match, lost to Baek Kwang II 5-11, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11.
Still with a match up, India was expected to go all out but Desai faltered in his reverse singles and went down to Kim 2-11, 11-8, 9-11, 12-14 and that infused a new life into the Korean ranks. With things evenly poised, Ghosh took on Chan-Hyeok Park.
The Korean took the first game, but Ghosh in his inimitable way came back strongly to take the next three games to win 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-7.
"Soumyajit (Ghosh) was brilliant. At times he cleverly mixed his guile with aggression. And, to me, that paid rich dividends against the Koreans," said coach Kamlesh Mehta. Asked about India's chances against China, the coach said: "The Chinese are, no doubt, a
top-ranked team. But they are not infallible as Belgium showed them today."
Earlier, Indian boys blanked out Egypt 3-0 to enter the quarterfinals of on Sunday night. In the quarters, Ghosh, despite some early resistance defeated Mohamed Shouman11-3, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7. Though Gosh took the first game rather easily, he lost 8-11 after leading
initially. However, he came back strongly in the next two to shut out the challenge from Shouman.
Harmeet Desai, a little wobbly to begin with, overcame Omar Bedair 11-8, 12-10, 11-4 with fortunes fluctuating in the first two games and points changing hand very quickly. But once he ran into a comfortable 2-0 lead, the third game became a mere formality for Desai to complete it.
Like Ghosh, G. Sathiyan began impressively in the first game against Shady Magdy, taking it easily but then lost the second at 9-11. He, however, regained his composure and kept attacking his opponent to wrap it up 11-4, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8.
Ajay Singh Chautala, president of the TTFI, congratulated the players on their brilliant win against Korea. "Your boys have done us proud, my best wishes for their next matches against China. Do well," he said in his congratulatory message to coach Mehta.
