India was off to a rousing start, its boys and girls teams recording identical 3-0 victories over Chile and Australia in stage one of the Volkswagen world junior Table Tennis championships on Sunday.
The opening rubber between Abhishek Yadav and Sebastian Roman in the boys’ section saw the former extended but holding out to claim the first game 17-15. The Chilean would stretch his ball bearing arm across the table’s end before tossing the sphere up for his side-spin serves, which his Indian rival had little difficulty in reading right.
If Yadav eased his grip on the second game, he made amends in the third — breaking off to a 5-0 lead and thereafter ensuring he was a step ahead. The Chilean did show streaks of enterprise as in despatching a diagonal missive that caught Yadav completely unawares.
Sudhanshu Grover’s blazing forehand loop drive landed him a lot of points against Gustavo Gomez. So did his reliance on the backhand spin serve.
Utkarsh Gupta’s high-toss serves provided just the opening salvo, bolstered by back-hand side-spin serves that kept Juan Lamadrid guessing.
In late evening action, the Indian girls squad advanced to stage 2, defeating France 3-1 but the boys bowed out to Hong Kong 1-3.
The results (stage 1):
Boys: Group A: Hong Kong bt Chile 3-0; India bt Chile 3-0 (Abhishek Yadav bt Sebastian Roman 17-15, 8-11, 11-2, 11-9, Sudhanshu Grover bt Gustavo Gomez 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9, Utkarsh Gupta bt Juan Lamadrid 11-6, 11-6, 12-10), Hong Kong bt India 3-1 (Chung Hei Chiu lost to Sudhanshu Grover 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 5-11, Ka Tak Hung btAbhishek Yadav 11-6, 11-8, 11-7, Siu Hang Lam bt Utkarsh Gupta 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, Chung Hei Chiu bt Abhishek Yadav 11-6, 11-5, 7-11, 9-11, 11-2).
Group B: Czech Republic bt USA 3-1; Egypt bt USA 3-0; Czech Republic bt Egypt 3-0.
Group C: Belgium bt New Zealand 3-0; Italy bt New Zealand 3-0; Belgium bt Italy 3-1.
Group D: Hungary bt Australia 3-0; Argentina bt Australia 3-1; Hungary bt Argentina 3-1.
Girls:Group B: Chinese Taipei bt Puerto Rico 3-0; Egypt bt Puerto Rico 3-1; Chinese Taipei bt Egypt 3-2.
Group C: France bt Australia 3-0; India bt Australia 3-0 (Manika Batra bt Vy Bui 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, T. Reeth Rishya bt Anna Du 11-6, 4-11, 11-8, 11-6, Suthirtha Mukherjee bt Sarah Tan 11-5, 11-1, 11-8); India bt France 3-1 (Manika Batra bt Sara Berge 11-7, 11-8, 11-4, T. Reeth Rishya bt Marina Berho 7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 6-11, 11-8, Suthirtha Mukherjee lost to Laura Pfefer 5-11, 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, Manika Batra bt Marina Berho 12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9).
Group D: Belarus bt Wales 3-1; Netherlands bt Wales 3-1. .