The Hindu : Sport : Indian boys down Korea, make it to the final

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Indian boys down Korea, make it to the final

Kunal Diwan

Girls’ team loses to Malaysia

— Photo: V. Ganesan

GRITTY EFFORT: Ravi Dixit (foreground) rallied to down Korea’s Won-Suk Choi and put India in the final.

CHENNAI: An emphatic 2-0 win over Korea in the semifinals eased India into the title round of the Asian boys’ junior squash championships here on Thursday. India will meet top seed Malaysia in the final on Friday.

The girls’ team final will be contested between Malaysia and Korea. Malaysia was responsible for India’s exit, shutting it out of the semifinals in quick time.

With the girls out of contention, it was up to the boys to ensure Indian presence in at least one of the finals. And Aditya Jagtap’s matter-of-fact win in the opening match went a long way in doing that.

Jagtap made up for a patchy performance in the singles event to shut out Seung-Woo Jin in straight games to give India a 1-0 lead.

Ravi Dixit, who matched wits against Won-Suk Choi, played like a zombie to start with and lost the first two games to raise Hong Kong’s hopes of equalising the fixture.

But the third game saw a radical transformation in the Indian. He raced to a 10-5 lead and then swung a backhand slice to the right court that died on Choi. The pattern of the next game was eerily similar: another 10-5 lead for Ravi that translated into another game in the bag.

After squandering what appeared to be an impregnable situation, Choi strived to make amends in the decider. He stayed with Ravi till 6-6, but was disallowed further progress as the Indian came out with a series of devious strokes to take the host into the final.

This is the first time since 2003 (Islamabad) that an Indian boys’ team has made it to the final of the Asian juniors. Meanwhile, Malaysia beat Hong Kong in the other boys’ semifinal. Though Ivan Yuen went down in five gruelling games to top-seed Leo Au, the other two Malaysians — Kamran Khan and Ng Jo Wen — tightened the screws to win their matches and see their country through.

It was a day to forget for the Indian girls. Malaysia’s Low Wee Wern and Low Wee Nee dispatched Anwesha Reddy and Anaka Alkamony respectively to snuff out India’s hopes of making the final. Dipika Pallikal had been ruled out of the tie due to an injured leg.

The results: Semifinals:

Boys: Malaysia bt Hong Kong 2-1 (Ivan Yuen lost to Leo Au 9-11, 11-6, 4-11, 13-11, 7-11; Kamran Khan bt Kit Lun Choy 11-4, 11-9, 11-8; Ng Jo Wen bt Ngo Long Fung 12-10, 11-5, 11-8). India bt Korea 2-0 (Aditya Jagtap bt Seung-Woo Jin 11-5, 11-6, 11-8; Ravi Dixit bt Won-Suk Choi 5-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6). 5-8 positions: Sri Lanka lost to Iran 1-2; Japan lost to Qatar 0-2.

Girls: Malaysia bt India 2-0 (Low Wee Wern bt V. Anwesha Reddy 11-3, 11-8, 15-13; Low Wee Nee bt Anaka Alankamony 10-12, 11-9, 14-12, 11-9).

Hong Kong lost to Korea 1-2 (Tsz Ling Liu lost to Sun-Mi Song 8-11, 8-11, 8-11; Tsz Wing Tong bt Ji-Hyun Lee 11-2, 11-5, 11-4; Ka Man Lee lost to Yeon-Soo Yang 17-19, 8-11, 5-11). 5-8 positions: Japan lost to Singapore 0-2; Sri Lanka bt China 2-0.

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