Mumbai: The Land of the Rising Sun shone at midnight as Japan shocked defending champions China for the Cadet girls’ title and South Korea upset last edition’s runners-up Chinese Taipei for the Cadet boys’crown, in the Reliance 20th Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships, at the NSCI’s Sardar Vallabhai Patel Indoor Stadium.
With pride at stake, China though made amends as they managed to retain the junior boys title defeating South Korea in a 3-2 thriller and the junior girls crown, beating Japan 3-1.
India’s junior boys, meanwhile, beat Bahrain 3-0 to retain the ninth position, while the junior girls overcame Chinese Taipei 3-1 to finish seventh, improving on the ninth spot in the previous championships in Doha. India’s Cadet boys, who were sixth in Doha, beat Hong Kong to finish fifth, while the Cadet girls, who were sixth last year, retained the same position after going down to Chinese Taipei 0-3. Cadet world No 2 Mima Ito was the saviour of last edition’s runners-up Japan’s edge-of-the-seat win over China, winning her opening singles, doubles and deciding singles after world No 1 Miu Hirano was shocked in the second singles tie and the reverse singles. South Korea defeated Chinese Taipei 3-0 to win the Cadet Boys title. world No 3 An Jaehyun and No 8 Kim Daewoo gave the Koreans a dream start with a 2-0 advantage even as Daewoo was taken the full distance in the second singles. Daewoo later combined with world No 1 Minha Hwang to beat the Taipei pair of Yun-Ju and Li Hsin-Yang in straight games to wrap up the victory. Last edition’s runners-up South Korea, who were on course to annex the Junior Boys title, frittered away a 2-0 lead against China who fought their way back, winning the next three rubbers, thanks to World No 7 Zhou Qihao, World No 5 Liang Jingkun and World No 3 Yu Ziyang who initiated a spectacular recovery to change the script. (PTI)
