Asian Junior Table Tennis: Abhishek assures India of a bronze

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) India's under-18 boys and girls bowed out of the individual event but Abhishek Yadav assured the hosts of at least a bronze as he qualified for the under-15 boys semi-final in the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship at the Thyagaraj Stadium here Saturday.

Yadav's 4-3 stunning win over top-seed Lim Jonghoon of South Korea in was the lone bright spot in a disappointing day for India. The Indian came back from behind to win 9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9.

In the under-18 boys category, the quartet of Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai , G. Sathiyan and Sourav Saha, who had won a bronze in the team event, had their moments in the pre-quarterfinal matches but lacked the killer instinct.

Saha's squandered six match points against World No. 18 Yin Hang of China before going down 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, 4-11, 7-11, 7-11, 10-12. in the seventh game. The 106th ranked Indian leading 7-0 in the decider but failed to hold on to his nerves.

Sathiyan gave a real scare to another Chinese world No. 2 Lin Gaoyuan before losing 5-11, 11-7, 13-11, 7-11, 6-11, 11-9, 6-11 in an enthralling round of 16 match.

Harmeet lost 7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 7-11, 8-11 to fourth-ranked Wu Jiaji also of China.

'Just like the team semi-final I faced problems while receiving his serve but today I won a lot of points whenever there was a long rally. I played better but he hardly gave me an opportunity to attack,' Harmeet told IANS.

Ghosh, India's highest-ranked player at 24, will also be ruing the missed opportunities against South Korea's Cho Jae Jun. He enjoyed a handsome lead in the first three games but played some reckless shots to suffer a 11-13, 10-12, 11-13, 3-11 defeat.

Manika Batra lost 3-4 to Japanese Eka So while Charvi Kawle was humbled 0-4 by second seed Gu Yuting of China in under-18 girls pre-quarterfinals.

Other important results:

India's Under-18 girls: Manika Batra lost to Eka So (Japan) 11-7, 11-4, 7-11, 11-9, 8-11, 5-11, 4-11; Charvi Kawre lost to Gu Yuting (China) 10-12, 5-11, 6-11, 2-11.