India rules the roost

India made a clean sweep of all but one title in the South Asian junior & cadet table tennis championships which concluded in Male on Thursday.

India didn’t participate in the junior boys’ team event as it had already qualified for the Asian junior championships. Bangladesh won the event in India’s absence.

Indian paddlers won 11 titles out of the 12 at stake with P.B. Abhinandh winning four which included the singles wins in junior and cadet categories.

Suhana Saini (junior girls) and Jennifer Varghese (cadet girls) won a treble each.

The results (finals):

Boys: Juniors: Singles: P.B. Abhinandh bt R. Balamurugan 11-4, 11-5, 11-7. Doubles: Ankur Bhattacharjee & Patil Deepit Rajesh bt K.C. Dulsen & T.D. Wijesinghe (SL) 11-8, 11-4, 11-9.

Cadet: Team:India bt Pakistan 3-0 [Abhinandh bt Muhammed Ahmed 7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5; P. Balamurugan bt Abbas Amjad 11-4, 11-4, 11-8; Priyanu Bhattacharya & Abhinandh bt Muhammed Ahmed & Abaas Amjad 11-5, 11-7, 11-8].

Singles: Abhinandh bt Balamurugan 11-4, 11-5, 11-7. Doubles: Abhinandh & Balamurugan bt Muhammed Ahmed & Abbas Amjad (Pak) 11-5, 11-5, 12-10.

Girls: Juniors: Team:India bt Sri Lanka 3-1 [Suhana Saini bt Bimandee 11-7, 11-6, 11-5; Mani Nithyasree lost to Ayla Chitty 11-2, 4-11, 8-11, 6-11; Yashaswini Ghorpade bt Maneesha 11-3, 11-4, 11-7; Mani Nithyasree bt Bimandee 11-8, 11-6, 12-10].

Singles: Suhana Saini bt Yashaswini Ghorpade 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9. Doubles: Suhana & Yashaswini bt Swarna Sri Bandra & Chitty Ayla Sharik (SL) 11-3, 11-5, 11-9.

Cadet: Team:India bt Nepal 3-0 (Jennifer Varghese bt Evana 11-1, 11-5, 11-4; Hansini bt Bianca 11-3, 11-6, 11-6; Jennifer & Sandika Bhattacharjee bt Evana & Bianca 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8].

Singles: Jennifer bt D. Fatima (Mdv) 13-1, 4-11, 11-5, 11-13, 11-6. Doubles: Jennifer & Sandika bt Fawad Hoor & Hassan Haiqa (Pak) 11-6, 11-6, 11-4.