Top seed Soumyajit Ghosh settled a score with Harmeet Desai and collected a double as India claimed four out of six individual titles at stake on the final day of the ITTF Global Circuit Junior Indian Open table tennis championship, here on Sunday.
Ghosh justified his ranking by stopping Desai, seeded second and his doubles partner, in seven games to collect $1,000. Earlier, the two joined hands to win the doubles title, worth $250 each, by overpowering the Chinese Taipei's pair of Lee Chun-Lin and Lai Yi-Yao even after blowing away a lead of 8-4 in the third game after having won the first two.
Desai, who became the first Indian to win an ITTF Global Circuit junior title by beating Ghosh at Linz, Austria, in April, was aiming to repeat that performance until the latter raced away with seven out of the last eight points of this fiercely-fought final. Desai, winner of the National junior title in January last year, received $500.
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Earlier in the semifinals, Ghosh blanked an erratic G. Sathiyan, seeded third, to avenge the loss suffered in the team championship final on Thursday.
Having swept all four team titles, India was expected to extend its monopoly in the individual events too, but its calculations stood upset in the junior girls' section. Thailand's 15-year-old Piyaporn Pannak, seeded three, upstaged an erratic Ankita Das, seeded two, in five games to snatch the gold and collected $1000.
Earlier, the Indian challenge ended in the girls' doubles semifinals before Chinese Taipei took the title by dismissing the feeble resistance from the Thai pair. In the cadet section, favourite Abhishek Yadav and third seed Anuska Dutta emerged aschampions and collected $300 each.
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The results (Indians unless specified): Boys: Juniors: Final: Soumyajit Ghosh bt Harmeet Desai 4-11, 11-5, 11-6, 14-16, 9-11, 11-3, 11-5. Semifinals: Ghosh bt G. Sathiyan 12-10, 11-9, 11-4, 11-5; Desai bt Lee Chun-Lin (Tpe) 14-12, 11-2, 6-11, 11-7, 11-5.
Cadets: Final: Abhishek Yadav bt Utkarsh Gupta 6-11, 11-8, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6. Semifinals: Yadav bt X. Lalhunhlua 12-10, 14-12, 11-9; Gupta bt Ayush Tayal 2-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-4.
Juniors: Doubles: Final: Ghosh/ Desai bt Chun-Lin/ Yi-Yao (Tpe) 11-7, 11-5, 10-12, 14-16, 11-7. Semifinals: Ghosh/ Desai bt Yadav/ Gupta 11-5, 11-9, 11-9; Lee/ Lai bt Sathiyan/ Sourav Saha 12-14, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7.
Girls: Juniors: Final: Piyaporn Pannak (Tha) bt Ankita Das 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6, 14-12. Semifinals: Piyaporn bt Mallika Bhandarkar 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7; Ankita bt Yeh-Tung-Yi (Tpe) 11-9, 5-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8.
Cadets: Final: Anuska Dutta bt Ayhika Mukherjee 9-11, 8-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-4. Semifinals: Ayhika bt K. Spoorthy 11-8, 13-11, 9-11, 11-3; Anuska bt Naina 11-9, 11-8, 13-11.
Juniors: Doubles: Final: Yeh Tung-Yi/ Lee Chun-Hui (Tpe) bt R. Rattanavongsa/ Piyaporn Pannak (Tha) 11-8, 11-8, 11-3. Semifinals: Pannak/ Rattanavogsa bt Manik Batra/ Ankita Das 9-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-5; Yeh/ Lee bt Mallika Bhandarkar/ Reeth Tennison 11-2, 11-9, 4-11, 11-2.