JOIN USThe junior boys (under-18), seeded third, were expected to win comfortably against their lower-ranked opponents but the second singles between Harmeet Desai and Tanapol Santiwattanatarm went down the wire.
Harmeet’s experience prevailed in the end as he rallied to win 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 match was not as easy as the score suggests but we are happy to start on a winning note. We have got a very tough match coming up tomorrow,” said Harmeet on their next match against Hong Kong on Thursday. India had won the bronze in the last edition in Bangkok.
However, it was the cadet boys (under-15) who stole the show on the opening day by beating the number one team in their group. Team captain 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 win for India. He won 13-11, 11-6, 12-10.
The Indian girls in the junior and cadet categories also won their opening round matches against Kazakhstan and Qatar.