Soumyajit Ghosh finishes runner-up in ITTF Swedish Open

In one of the biggest achievements of his blossoming table tennis career, the talented Soumyajit Ghosh finished runner-up in the U-21 men's singles event of the ITTF World Tour Swedish Open in Stockholm, Sweden.
The 21-year-old from Siliguri stunned top seed and world no.82 Jang Woojin of South Korea enroute to the final played over the weekend.
Ghosh, who has risen to 108 in the latest rankings, also beat Poland's Konrad Kulpa (3-1), home favourite Anton Kallberg (4-3) and India teammate Harmeet Desai (3-0) in the high-profile event.
However, luck was not in his side final which he lost in seven games to 90th-ranked Yoshida Masaki of Japan. The Indian went down fighting 11-4 12-10 9-11 10-12 11-9 4-11 5-11.

Ghosh says he has improved by leaps and bounds ever since he began playing for Swedish club Falkenberg three seasons ago.
He is now confident of breaking into the top-100 next month, making it a rare occurrence when two Indians will be amongst the world's top 100. The experienced Sharath Kamal has moved up three places to be 41 in the ITTF rankings.
"Reaching the final is a great result for me. It is my last year in the U-21 category and I am glad I could make it count. The final could have easily gone my way too. The main aim now is to further improve my world ranking," said Ghosh, who is India's youngest national champion.

Having spent enough time in Sweden, Ghosh aims to find a club in the more competitive German league for next season.