New Delhi, July 30: Against all odds and expectations, India dominated matters in the junior events, winning titles after titles, in the 2017 Jordar and Junior Cadet Open in Amman, which concluded yesterday.
The only exception was in the Cadet competitions where Chinese Taipei ruled the proceedings. Yet, India bagged seven gold medals, seven silver and 10 bronze to complete a sweep of sorts, making the trip to Amman most profitable.
But for Hsu p-Hsuan, who stopped the Indian surge, Payas Jain would have added one more to the gold tally but had to be satisfied with the silver after going down to the Taipei boy 4-11, 6-11, 6-11 in the Cadet singles final.
Even the team title was denied to India in the Cadet section when Payas, Yashansh Malik and Chinmaya Somaiya found the going tough against Hsu Po-Hsuan, Lin Yen-Cun and Peng Chih who claimed team gold, leaving India the second best finishers.
However, the Indian girls, following the footsteps of the boys’ team, ensured team title besides the Hopes Boys and Hopes Girls (Cadet) adding to the golden kitty on the concluding day. Payas overcame Iran’s Mohammad Amin Samadi to win the boys singles title with a 11-5, 11-9, 12-10 triumph while Anargya Manjunath grabbed the singles crown when she scored a 11-7, 6-11, 11-5, 12-10 victory over Taipei’s Cheng Pu-Syuan in a needle final contest.
Following their impressive Junior Boys crown, Jeet Chandra, Manush Shah and ParthVirmani, the ‘A’ team India beat their counterparts in ‘B’ 3-1 to finish 1-2 in that order. Team B consisted of Snehit Suravajjula, Anukram Jain, Shivaji Roy and Mudit Dani.
Jeet beat both Shivaji (11-4, 11-8, 11-6) and Snehit (14-12, 12-10, 13-11), all extended sets, while Parth accounted for Snehit in the opening five-setter rubber. It was, indeed, a surprise as Snehit suffered three consecutive defeats, despite being the owner of the singles title which he won a day before. Earlier, India ‘A’ beat Thailand 3-1 in the quarterfinals and then Qatar 3-0 in the semi-final.
