The Indian team settled for bronze in the Czech Open junior and cadet table tennis tournament on Monday.
The Indian junior boys’ team comprised World No. 1 Manav Thakkar, Fidel R. Snehit (World No. 24), Manush Shah (No. 33) and Jeet Chandra (No. 36), and defeated Hungary in the quarterfinals. However, it lost to Japan in the semifinals.
In the qualification rounds (Group-1), India remained the leader, beating Serbia 3-0, Czech Republic-A 3-1 and Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-0. In the final, China defeated Japan 3-0 to clinch the team title.
For the first time, all the Indian junior boys who competed in the tournament are in the top-50 of the world ranking and players from 55 countries took part in the tournament.
Snehit and partner Jeet Chandra lost in quarterfinals in the doubles section while Manav-Manush won silver.
The results: Team event: Quarterfinals: India bt Hungary 3-1 (Manav Thakkar lost to Juhasz Patrik 11-4, 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 8-11; S.F.R. Snehit bt Andras Csaba 11-9, 11-6, 4-11, 13-11; Jeet Chandra bt Both Oliver 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 11-4; Manav Thakkar bt Andras Csaba 11-4, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6).
Semifinal: India lost to Japan 1-3 (Snehit lost to Sone Kakeru 7-11, 4-11, 11-7, 10-12; Manav Thakkar lost to Shinozuku Hiroto 7-11, 5-11, 11-8, 6-11; Jeet Chandra bt Hamada Kazuki 11-9, 11-5, 11-4; Manav Thakkar lost to Sone Kakeru 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 5-11) .
