Ronit Bhanja had fire in the belly, but fell at the threshold to Chi-Chien Lai 11-5, 6-11, 10-12, 7-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-13 in the boys’ quarterfinals of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World junior circuit finals at the Abhay Prashal indoor stadium on Friday. Ranked 13th, the Barrackpore native even held a match point, before succumbing to the sixth seed.
In several long-range exchanges of fire, Bhanja matched Lai smash for smash, lob for lob. The Bengal battler pulled off some incredible retrieves, sometimes from impossible angles. The fast forehand loops fired far from the table showcased each player’s aggressive intent.
The Indian challenge ended when Manav Thakkar bowed out to Hsin Yang Li of Taiwan 6-11, 7-11, 13-11, 11-9, 9-11, 8-11.
Alexandru Manole of Romania pulled the rug from under the feet of the boys’ favourite Darko Jorgic 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9. With variations in his short, side-spin serves, Manole pounced on the top gun’s feeble returns, the backhand flick invariably the put-away shot.
High-toss serves helped Wai Yam Minnie Soo recoup from losses in the opening and third games against Taiwan’s Pei-Ling Su. If the latter’s receiving of serve was weak at times, Su more than made up with fierce third and fifth-ball attacks. More often than not, short side-spin serves landed the spoils for the top seed.
Andreea Dragoman won by the skin of her teeth against Amy Wang. After the duo was tied 3-3, the fourth seed trailed in the decider but much to her relief, prevailed in the extended game.
Correction: Archana Kamat of India failed to make the quarterfinals, and not as published in these columns on Friday. The error is regretted. After registering two wins on Thursday, Archana lost her third match 4-0 to Amy Wang of the USA on Friday. In a three-way tie for the second spot, she was edged out by 0.66 points.
The results:
Quarterfinals: Boys: Alexandru Manole (Rom) bt Darko Jorgic (Slo) 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, Chi-Chien Lai (Tai) bt Ronit Bhanja (Ind) 5-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 3-11, 13-11; Koyo Kanamitsu (Jpn) bt Tobias Hippler (Ger) 11-13, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9, 2-11, 11-9, Hsin Yang Li (Tai) bt Manav Thakkar (Ind) 11-6, 11-7, 11-13, 9-11, 11-9,11-8.
Girls: Wai Yam Minnie Soo (HKG) bt Pei-Ling Su (Tai) 9-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-9; Andreea Dragoman (Rom) bt Amy Wang (USA) 10-12, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 3-11, 11-9, 14-12; Sih-Han Fang (Tai) bt Kana Takeuchi (Jpn) 11-4, 7-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-6, 11-6; Yuko Kato (Jpn) bt Tze Wing Mak (HKG) 12-10, 6-11, 14-12, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7 .
