Manav-Manush take silver at Czech Junior & Cadet TT Open

Paddlers Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah put up a formidable show to capture the silver medal in the Czech Junior and Cadet Open, a part of the 2018 ITTF Premier Junior Circuit, here.

The second-seeded pair sailed through their earlier rounds in the Junior Boys' Doubles, before running into the giant-killing Chinese duo Yingbin Xu and Heyi Yu on Thursday night. They put up a valiant fight before going down 1-3 in the final.

Manav and Manush had their opportunities in the opening game itself, but they failed to wrap it up and lost 12-14.

The Indians, however, rallied in the third to make it 1-2, taking the closely fought game 11-9. The fourth game too was tense and could have gone either way. But it proved to be the Chinese pair's day, as they won 13-11 to take the game, the match and the title.

Manav and Manush routed the Egypt-Italy team of Youssef Abdel-Aziz and Carlo Rossi 3-0 in the semi-finals.

They had to dig deep in the first game as Youssef and Carlo stretched them all the way till the finish. They eventually won 13-11. The next two games were easier, as they wrapped up the match 11-8, 11-7.

The quarter-finals were much tougher, with Leo de Nodrest and Jules Rolland of France winning the first two games 11-7, 11-6. Manav and Manush, however, recovered smartly enough to win the remaining three games, all at 7.

--IANS

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