Indian paddlers claim two team medals

India's Junior Girls and Cadet Boys claimed both the team championship medals, winning all their round-robin matches on the inaugural day of the South Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.

The Indian Junior Boys with three wins and Cadet Girls with two victories, too, are on course to annexing the gold medals having taken the top position in the league chart. However, the boys and the girls have two more matches tomorrow before completing the formalities.

In the Cadet Boys, the Indians notched up two 3-0 wins against both Sri Lanka and Nepal while the hosts got a walkover from Pakistan who failed to pit a Cadet team. Sri Lanka, who posted a 3-0 triumph over Nepal finished second behind India to grab the silver medal, with a walkover from Pakistan.

It was a cakewalk for the Indians with Manav Thakkar, Parth Virmani and Manush Shah making it a one-sided affair against both their opponents. With little challenge from any of their rivals, Indian players did not have to drop a sweat but Thakkar dropped a game against Sri Lankan Dishanka Thanakoon in the second singles.

Later, the Lankan pair of Virinka and Nimesh Ranchagoda Parth too managed to take a game off the Indian duo Manav and Parth, who won the doubles 3-1.

The same story was repeated by India's Junior Girls, comprising Sreeja Akula, Shruti Amruthe, Selena Deepthi Selvakumar and Maria Rony. They, first taking on Nepal and then Pakistan, made mincemeat of their opponents winning 3-0 in double quick time with little resistance coming from the neighbour. Similarly, in the match against Sri Lanka in the afternoon, Sreeja, Shruti and Maria easily beat their opponents for the same score.

Sri Lanka defeated Nepal and Pakistan, both by the same 3-0 margin, finished behind India for the silver. Both Nepal and Pakistan will share the bronze medals.

Results: (India related matches only)

Junior Girls: India bt Nepal 3-0 (Shruti Amruthe bt Norden Tamang 11-7, 11-8, 11-5, Sreeja Akula bt Renuka Rana Magar 11-4, 11-3, 11-3, Maria Rony bt Rupa Limbu 11-4, 11-6, 11-1); India bt Pakistan 3-0 (Sreeja Akula bt Fawa Arif 11-9, 11-3, 11-3, Shruti Amruthe bt Anam Ilayas 11-5, 11-6, 11-5, Selena Deepthi bt Heleema Ali Sheikh 11-4, 11-6, 11-5); India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Sreeja Akula bt Priyadarshini STM 15-13, 11-3, 11-2, Shrutri Amruthe bt Ruvin Kanangora 11-3, 11-4, 11-8, Maria Rony Ridhmi D. 13-11, 11-3, 11-6).

Cadet Boys: India bt Nepal 3-0 (Shreshtra Santoo 11-6, 11-4, 11-4, Manav Thakkar bt Ritiz Joshi 11-6, 11-4, 11-6, Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah bt Santoo and Joshi 11-6, 11-5, 12-10), India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Manush Shah bt Virinka Hendahewa 11-5, 11-7, 11-7, Manav Thakkar bt P. Dishanka Thanakon 11-3, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8, Parth Virmani and Manav Thakkar bt Virinka Hendahewa and Nimesh Ranchgoda 11-9, 11-7, 11-13, 11-5); India w/o Pakistan.