New Delhi: In what turned out to be a good day for Indian paddlers, the under-18 boys blanked Thailand 3-0 while the under-15 team got the better of fancied Japan 3-1 in the group stages of the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships.
The junior and cadet girls too had favorable outings, beating Kazakhstan and Qatar.
The junior boys (u-18), seeded third, registered a comfortable win, but the match between Harmeet Desai and Tanapol Santiwattanatarm proved to be close affair before the former prevailed 5-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 11-8.
India's highest-ranked player in the tournament Soumyajit Ghosh and Sourav Saha won their singles in straight games.
The under-15 boys sprang the day's biggest surprise when they beat the number one team in their group.
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 to seal the issue for India with a 13-11, 11-6, 12-10 win.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, July 20, 2011, 21:30