Indian Junior Boys enter the semis of Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships

Manav Thakkar began the proceedings for India by beating Iran's Amirreza Abbasi 11-9, 5-11, 11-7, and 11-7 to provide his team with a perfect start in the 23rd Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships quarterfinals at Asan, South Korea on Friday. However, Jeet Chandra could not replicate his teammate's performance and went down to Amin Ahmadian 11-5, 15-13, 6-11, 9-11, and 10-12  in a nail-biting encounter that brought the match on level terms.

Manush Shah then put India in a commanding position after he defeated Iran’s third player Alin Rahnamayhaghighi in straight games of 11-3, 11-9, and 12-10. Manav, playing his reverse singles, overcame Ahmadian 11-7, 11-3, 9-11, and 11-9 to seal a place in the semifinals of the competition.

Meanwhile, the Indian junior girls' team bowed out of the tournament after losing to top-seeded China in straight games. The girls' team consisted of Moumita Datta, Archana Kamath and Selenadeepthi Selvakumar.

The cadet boys and girls team suffered the same fate at the hands of the Chinese teams who won the matches 3-0 in both the categories. However, all the Indian teams performed well enough to qualify for the main draw where they faced the toughest opponents in the world.