India A junior women`s team wins gold in TT event

Panaji: India A girl`s team won a gold after defeating Singapore in the last league game of the 2014 Indian Junior and Cadet Open Table Tennis Championships at the Mukherjee Stadium here.

The India A team bagged the junior girls title while India B bagged a silver.In cadet boys category, India A and B teams won a silver and a bronze respectively. Singapore A defeated the combination of Iran-Kazakhstan 3-1 to win the junior boys team gold. For India A junior girls, it was some struggle but they were focused well on the day as Sagarika Mukherjee beat Yee Herng Hwee 11-6, 11-9, 13-15, 4-11, 11-8. After that Suthirtha Mukherjee rallied to defeat Tay Huil Li 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-8 and then the two Indians combined well to overcome the Tay-Yee pair 6-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9 to stamp their authority. In cadet boys, Singapore A defeated India A 3-0 to be the league table topper and win the gold. India A team had to satisfy itself with the silver.India B, despite losing to Singapore, managed to finish third and win the bronze. In the cadet girls section, it was India all the way finishing 1-2-3 with no entries from other participating nations. "Our training, apart from covering the technical and tactical aspects, also included about several sessions on better movements. I see vast improvements and they will do them a world of good at the championships," Engel said. Praising the physical fitness of the women`s team, Engel said that Madhurika had shed five kilos and it would help her perform better."Physical and mental fitness are the two aspects we put our emphasis on and they have yielded results. You will see a different Shamini and a leaner Madhurika from now on. We have two first-timers too in Madhurika and Manika for the world meet. I am sure they will also do very well." Combing back to the chances at Tokyo, both Engel and Bhawani Mukherjee said that India had a very good chance. The men`s team is in a far easier group than the women`s who have a big hurdle in Turkey. The men`s team in Group F is pitted against Italy, Iran, Argentina, Australia and Paraguay. The women`s squad, in group G, has Italy, Turkey, Nigeria, Portugal and Bulgaria to contend with. The team that leads the group will automatically qualify for the quarter-finals and get byes into the draw of 16. Two other teams, making the cut from each group, will play the second stage which is the pre-quarterfinals. The men`s squad will open its campaign against Argentina on April 28 in the morning while the women will have to wait till the evening for their opening match against Nigeria.