So far so good for hosts

It was not as that the result could not have been avoided. Rishya had been trailing 10-7 in the final set of her encounter with Yee,before coming back to tie 10-all. She then went on to lose the final set 13-11.

India’s group includes Hong Kong,Qatar,Kazakhstan,North Korea and Singapore. Three teams out of the 6 in the group will qualify for the next round to join three teams from the other group as well as China and Japan who received byes. With North Korea not showing up and instead giving walkovers to their opponents,India who alongside the defeat to Hong Kong,beat Kazakhstan 3-1 and Qatar 3-0,still have a good chance of making it through to the next round.

However coach Bhawani Mukherji said a win against Hong Kong would have been useful. “In table tennis the draw becomes very crucial. If we finish in the top of our group we have a good chance not to meet a team like China in the quarters,” he said.

“Hong Kong is a tough opponent. We were doing well against them when suddenly the players began to realise that they had a good chance of winning the tie. Sometimes pressure of expecting to win becomes more difficult than when you don’t have much expectation,” he said.

Boys March on

There were few worries for the junior Indian boys who had won bronze in the last edition in Bangkok. Seeded third they brushed aside Thailand as Soumyajit Ghosh and Sourav Saha won their singles in straight games. Harmeet,who won two junior pro tour events this year was pushed by Tanapol Santiwattanatarm before recovering to win 5-11,11-8,6-11,11-5,11-8. ‘The match was not as easy. He is one of their top players and I was having trouble picking his serve early on in the match. We have got a very tough match coming tomorrow,’ said Harmeet on their next match against Hong Kong Thursday.

However,it was the cadet boys (U-15) who stole the show on the opening day by beating the number one team in their group. Team captain Abhishek Yadav lost the first singles to Japanese Masato Kakitsuka 11-9,5-11,15-17,7-11 but lifted his game in the reverse singles against Tonin Ryuzaki. He won 13-11,11-6,12-10.

RESULTS: Junior boys (India beat Thailand 3-0): S Ghosh bt P Kunprasert 11-8,11-8,11-6; H Desai bt T Santiwattanatarm 5-11,11-8,6-11,11-5,11-8; S Saha bt R Chanpongsang 11-4,11-6,11-1. Junior girls (India bt Kazakhstan 3-1): M Batra bt Y Gats 11-7,3-11,11-5,11-8; M Bhandarkar lost to Anastasiya Lavrova 5-11,11-9,11-5,8-11,9-11; R Tennison bt G Ermatova 11-4,12-14,9-11,11-6,11-9; M Bhandarkar bt Y Gats 11-6,11-6,7-11,10-12,11-9. (Hong Kong beat India 3-2) Ng Ka Yee beat Mallika Bhandarkar 7-11,11-2,11-9,6-11,11-8

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