Nanjing, Aug 18:
It was a mixed bag for the two-member Indian table tennis team at the second Asian Youth Games as Abhishek Yadav entered the quarterfinals in the men’s singles while it was curtains for Suthirtha Mukherjee in the round of 16, here today.
Yadav defeated Iran’s Soroosh Amiri Nia 4-2 (6-11, 4-11, 117, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8) in a 44-minute pre-quarterfinal duel.
The Indian was slow to start with, losing the first two games in just 11 minutes.
Yadav, however, upped the ante in the next two rather comfortably to restore parity.
But in the fifth game, Yadav trailed 1-5 before making a steady progress to level the score at 7-all. From there on, it dragged for a while as both the Iranian and the Indian were level at 9-9. With serve on, the Indian simply shut out the Iranian challenge to go 3-2 up.
That was the indication for Yadav to go all out in the next game as he ran up a good 5-1 lead. But Nia managed to bring himself back into the match by reducing the margin to mere two points.
However, the day belonged to the Indian who increased the lead to four points at 10-6 and went on to clinch the tie.
“The fifth game was crucial. The moment I won it, I grew in confidence and went all out in the sixth. My attacking game paid dividends,” said the left-handed Yadav.
Yadav will meet Malaysian Dunley Foo tomorrow.
It was all over for the fifth seeded Suthirtha as she failed to match the guile of Seul Lee of Korea who won 4-0 (11-7, 11-7, 13-11, 11-4).
The Korean took just 28 minutes to clean up Suthirtha who despite going neck and neck in the first two games at 6-6, lost the initiative.
In the third she fought valiantly but the Korean clinched the game at 13-11. In the next the Indian’s drooping shoulders told the tale as the Korean finished the game in just four minutes. (PTI)
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