Bamboleim (Goa), March 23: Hong Kong’s Lam Siu Hang and South Korean Seri Park notched up clean, easy wins in the Junior Boys and Junior Girls sections to pave the way for their qualification in the Road to Nanjing 2014 series at the Mukherjee Stadium here today.

With just one player from each section qualifying for this year’s Nanjing Youth Olympic Games from the championships here, the two paddlers provided sufficient proof of their caliber to the rest of the field with a sound warning in the three rounds that were played on the opening day.

As for Abhishek Yadav and Suthirtha Mukherjee—both qualified to Stage 2 of the championships—they need to pull up their socks tomorrow if they nurture any sort of hope to make the cut which, at the moment, looked a distant dream for both.

Top-seed Suthirtha Mukherjee was all at sea against Korean Seri Park this morning, despite leading comfortably 10-8 in the first game. There began the trouble for the Indian as the Korean domination started soon after. Though Suthirtha did manage to take the third game with the least margin, she looked giving a good fight in the next. Down at 4-10, Suthirha gave a scare to her Korean opponent taking four straight points before the latter closed it at 11-8, after the Indian gave a few negative points.

Suthirtha’s form was not good even against her Kazakhstan’s Yulia Ryabova to start with as the former lost her first game 8-11 only to put it across in the next three games. Nevertheless, it was a struggle in the third game where Suthirtha was leading 8-6 and lost three consecutive points as the Kazakh led 9-8. Before things could turn worse for the Indian, Suthirtha took a timeout, induced by her coach Arul Selvi, which proved to be crucial. From there, the ascendancy of the Indian could be seen.

Suthirtha will run into Singapore’s Yee Hereng Hwee, the group topper from group 2, in the semifinals. The other semifinal will pit Korean Seri Park against An Qi Angeline Tang (Malaysia). The Malaysian beat Iran’s Ghazaleh Molatalab 3-1 in the evening to go through to the semifinals.

“She (Suthirtha) has the potential to beat the Singaporean. Once she enters the final, we will think of a strategy against her opponent, which is mostly like the Korean,” said coach Selvi. “We will see from there onwards,” added the coach.

Abhishek Yadav, on the other hand, was even poorer. To begin with, he lost to Hong Kong’s Lam in what turned out to be a totally one-sided match. Luckily for the Indian, he defeated his next opponent from Sri Lanka, Imesh Ranasingh 3-1. Third-seeded Yadav proved a hard nut to crack for the Sri Lankan who, however, managed to take a game off the Indian. Coach Muralidhar Rao did admit that things were going to be tough in the semifinalstomorrow. “Abhishek will have to play his best to upset the Kazakh,” said Rao, adding “he is capable of upping the ante”.

In the semifinals to be played tomorrow, Yadav will take on Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko, the other group’s topper, while group 1 leader Lam Siu Hang from Hong Kong will clash with Iran’s Amiri Nia Soorosh in the other match, who beat Singapore’s Loy Meng Hean Darren in a crucial match in the evening.

Results:

Junior Boys (Group 1): Lam Siu Hang Lam (HKG) bt Abhishek Yadav (IND) 3-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-4), Imesh I. Ranasingha (SRI) lost to Lam Siu Hang (HKG) 0-3 (3-11, 5-11, 4-11, Abishek Yadav (IND) bt Imesh I. Ranasingha (SRI) 3-1 (11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7).

Group 2: Kirill Gerassimenko (KAZ) bt Amiri Nia Soroosh (IRI) 3-1 (3-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6), Amiri Nia Soroosh (IRI) bt Ali Alkhadrawi (KSA) 3-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-9), Loy Meng Hean Darren (SIN) lost to Ali Alkhadrawi (KSA) 2-3 (9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 6-11), Kirill Gerassimenko (KAZ) bt Loy Meng Hean Darren (SIN) 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-3), Kirill Gerassimenko (KAZ) bt Ali Alkhadrawi (KSA) 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-8), Amir Nia Soroosh (IRI) bt Loy Meng Hean Darren (SIN) 3-1 (14-12, 11-7, 10-12, 11-6).

Junior Girls (Group 1): Suthirtha Mukherjee (IND) lost to Seri Park (KOR) 1-3 (10-12, 5-11, 11-9, 8-11), Yuliya (KAZ) lost to Suthirtha Mukherjee (IND) 1-3 (11-8, 4-11, 9-11, 1-11), Seri Park (KOR) bt Yuliya Ryabova (KAZ).

Group 2: Yee Herng Hwee (SIN) bt An Qi Angeline (MAS) 3-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-6), Ghazaleh Molatalab (IRI) lost to Yee Herng Hwee (SIN) 3-0 (4-11, 1-11, 8-11), An Qi Angeline Tang (MAS) bt Ghazaleh Molatalab (IRI) 3-1 (3-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-8).