Mumbai's Mudit Dani wins coveted U-23 TT title in USA

City-based table tennis player Mudit Dani won the Under-23 title in the prestigious 2017 Butterfly Badger Open in the United States.
Playing in a highly competitive field in the USD 16,000 prize money tournament, Mudit beat Polish-born Wojciech Wolski 9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7 in the final to clinch the title late on Sunday night.
Fifth seeded Mudit sailed through his group, winning all his three matches in style. He beat Zbigniew Jablonski, Varun Senthilkumar and Jerry Lu in straight games to make it to the knockout stage.
He overcame an early hiccup to beat Canada's James Therriault 10-12, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10.

In the quarters, against Czech Republic's Janusz Franeczek who had beaten No. 3 seed and highly rated player Peter Yang, he was in devastating form. He brushed him aside 11-6, 11-8, 11-7. He got the better of Lithuania's Gediminas Mickus 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-3 in the semis to make his tryst with Wolski.
"I am happy with the way I have been playing over the last few months," said Mudit.