What’s the story?
India won all the gold medals on offer at the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships. The team secured six more golds on the final day to take the tally to 10 at the Championships held at Mount Lavinia, near Colombo in Sri Lanka on Sunday. India also won four silver medals to finish with a total of 14 medals.
The context
India won four gold medals in team events on the first couple of days of the three-day tournament. The young Indian paddlers sustained their domination in two doubles events and went on to win gold in all singles on the concluding day.
The heart of the matter
Manav Thakkar overcame fellow countryman Parth Virmani 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9 for the junior boys’ gold. The boy from Delhi, who was the second seeded player, had to settle for silver while Sri Lanka’s P.D. Umesh Tennakon and K.D.V. Madhushan claimed the bronze medal.
In the junior girls’ final, top-seeded player Archana Girish Kamath got one over compatriot and second seed Priyanka Pareek 11-9, 11-5, 11-7. Sri Lanka’s S.H.S. Imasha De Silva and K. Hansani Puimila had to settle for bronze.
In the Junior Boys category, India first defeated Pakistan 3-0 and went on to secure another identical win over the hosts Sri Lanka. Led by Manav Thakkar along with Manush Shah and Parth Virmani, the team swept over the challenge of Pakistan's Fahad Khawaja, Obaid Shah and Basit Khan before repeating it against KDVMadhushan, PD Umesh Thennakoon and Nimesh Ranchagoda of Sri Lanka.
Manush easily won 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 against Madhushan while Manav dropped a game versus Umesh before succeeding 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 11-4. Later on, Parth completed the sweep with a 9-11, 11-4, 14-12, 11-8 victory over Nimesh in a fairly difficult dead rubber
Archana Kamath, Moumita Datta and Priyanka Pareek were the stars for India in the junior girls' category.
In the Cade Girls section, India were at the top of the league with victories over Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Maldives, thanks to Anusha Kutumbale, Swastika Ghosh and Vanshika Bhargava. The Cade Boys repeated the feat with 3-0 wins over, first Pakistan and then Sri Lanka, to procure the fourth gold.
The boys who were the stars for India were H. Jeho, Chinmaya Somaiya and Payas Jain.
What’s next?
India and Sri Lanka both booked their slots for the Asian junior championships to be held at Ansan, South Korea, from 29th June to 4th July. Ending the competition with eight points, India were followed by Sri Lanka who notched six points to become the second team to qualify for the Asian event.
Author’s take
This is indeed a proud moment for India and the future of table tennis in our country seems to be in good hands. Next up, these youngsters will want to make their mark in the Asian junior championships and bring more laurels for the country.
