Indian Paddlers Make Merry at World Table Tennis Youth Contender Meet in Tunisia

India’s Payas Jain claimed his second successive under-17 boys title after defeating Tom Closset of Belgium 3-1 in the WTT Youth Contender final in Tunis. Picking up the threads from where he left off in Otocec, Payas outwitted Tom 7-11, 11-4, 11-4, 15-13 in the summit clash on Sunday. The Delhi lad, who won gold in the same category in Slovenia last week, had a bad start to the final but came back strongly to go up 2-1. However, in the fourth game, his opponent squandered a couple of game points to let the Indian finish in style. In his semi-final, Payas defeated Preyesh Raj Suresh 16-14, 11-8, 11-8. Despite his upper hand in the first game, the Tamil Nadu boy could not breach Payas’ confidence and finally settled with the bronze.

Ankur Bhattacharjee, who played an enduring semi-final against Tom Closset, settled for the bronze. In under-19 boys, Payas, however, failed to cross the semi-final hurdle yet again on Sunday. The Indian signed off with a bronze after going down to Louis Laffineur 1-3 (11-9, 10-12, 4-11, 9-11).

Payas began well and after a bit of struggle in the second, deuced. The Belgian bounced back well and completed the task soon after taking the second game. In the other semifinal, Maharashtra lad Deepit Patel went down 3-11, 4-11, 7-11 to Adrien Rassanfosse, also a Belgian. Adrien became the eventual winner when he defeated his compatriot Tom in the final. Left-handed Preyesh made up for his loss to take the Under-15 Boys title. He downed Ankur Bhattacharjee in the final 3-1 (11-8, 15-13, 11-13, 11-9). The West Bengal paddler ascended the podium for the second time, this time winning a silver medal.

Another Indian, P B Abhinand of Tamil Nadu, settled with a bronze after losing his semi-final 9-11, 12-10, 7-11, 1-11 to Ankur, earlier in the day. In the under-11 boys, it was an Indian show again as Vishruth Ramakrishnan claimed the gold medal after accounting for local boy Amir Essid. The Tamil Nadu boy won 11-4, 11-3, 11-7.

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