Indian paddlers make clean sweep of gold

 Indian paddlers clinched all the four team gold medals on the second day of the South Asian Junior table tennis championships at the IG Stadium here on Sunday.

Sri Lanka finished behind them to win the four silver medals, while the bronze medals were shared by Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. Bhutan remained the only country not to finish among medals in the team events. 

The Indian women’s teams in both the junior and cadet sections finished on top of the group to win the titles. The first stage in singles events have begun and India seem on course to sweep the medals tally.

Results: Junior Boys (Stage II-Final): India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Vimukthi Wijesiri 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, Abhishek Yadav bt Niroshana Kahawathatha 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, Rohit Rajasekhar bt Dilshan Ekanayaka 11-6, 11-4, 11-6).

Semifinal: India bt Nepal 3-0 (Sudhanshu Grover bt Mani Lama 11-7, 9-11, 5-11, 11-4, 11-8, Abhishek Yadav bt Awal Piyush 11-7, 11-4, 11-2, Utkarsh Gupta bt Nihal Shrestha 14-12, 11-9, 11-6), Sri Lanka bt Pakistan 3-0 (Niroshana Kahawathatha bt Rameez Muhammad 11-13, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5, Vimukhit Wijesiri bt Khurshid Tabish 11-6, 11-9, 12-10, Krishan Wickeramaratha bt Jamal Aziz 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 14-12).

Junior Girls (Round 3): India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Suthirtha Mukherjee bt Tharakie De Silver 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, Manika Batra bt Sankalpana Kannangara 11-4, 11-7, 11-5, Reeth Rishya Tennison bt Chamathasara Fernando 11-3, 11-4, 11-8; Nepal bt Bangladesh 3-1.

Cadet Boys: (Stage II-Final): Indian bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Birdie Boro bt Udaya Ranasinghe 11-4, 9-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, Anirban Ghosh bt Jayasanka De Silva 11-7, 11-6, 11-5; Anirban Ghosh/Lalrin Puia bt Udaya Ranasinghe/Poornima Warusawithana 11-3, 11-7, 11-9).

Semifinal: India bt Nepal 3-0 (Birdie Boro bt Santoo Shretha 11-4, 11-8, 11-5, Lalrin Puia bt Krishan Thapa 11-4, 11-7, 11-5, Anirban Gho­sh/Birdie Boro bt Santoo Shr­etha/Krishna Thapa 12-10, 12-10, 11-3).

Cadet Girls: Round-3: India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Sreeja Akula bt Pavani Sirisena 11-1, 12-10, 11-5, Sagarika Mukherjee bt Ri Karadanaarachchi 11-3, 11-5, 11-4, Sagarika Mukherjee/R Harshavardini bt Pavani Sirisena 11-2, 11-3, 11-9).