Indore, January 22: Early trends put Indian paddlers on notice as it was a disappointing beginning for both Mudit Dani and Siddhesh Pandey, the national champion, as they went down without fight against their higher-ranked and better players in first round matches of their respective groups in the 2015 ITTF World Junior Circuit Finals at the Abhay Prashal here today.

However, there was some flicker of hope when Archana Girish Kamath began on a bright note against the fifth seed opponent Andreea Dragoman of Romania only to falter 2-4 in group 2.

Dani, seeded 16, lost to No. 7 seeded Zhang Kai of the US 3-11, 5-11, 9-11, 4-11 while No. 15 Siddhesh went down to eighth seed Helshan Weerasinghe of England 4-11, 9-11, 5-11, 3-11.

But the matches of the afternoon were, undoubtedly, the ones between No. 2 seed Dark Jorgic of Slovenia and Carlos Vedriel of Spain and between Japanese Miyuu Kihara and Tamolwan Khetkhuan of Thailand in Junior Boys and Junior Girls. Both first round matches happened to be in group 2.

Darko, who has come here with a great reputation of having won three titles, was caught on the wrong foot right from the word go. It reflected in his game as the Spaniard, his opponent, chose to attack his weak forehand which brooked no challenged.

Having lost to the Slovenian in Hungary 2-3 earlier last year, Carlos had made himself sure not to fall to his backhand trap, the stronger point. Instead, he drove very often to his forehand and the second-seeded Slovenian was in all sorts of trouble, losing the first two games. He, however, tried to pull one back when he managed to take the third set. But then Carlos got into a nice rhythm and executed his powerful forehand which fetched quite a lot of winners.

The No. 2 girls’ seed from Thailand looked like toying with her Japanese opponent and ninth seed Miyuu Kihara as the former led 3-0 in what was turning out to be a quick match. But then the left-handed Japanese had other ideas. From out of nowhere, the ninth seed first showed a glimpse of her fight back when she stretched the No. 2 seed 13-15 in the third set.  

It must have probably given her the confidence as she slowly but surely went from strength to strength and systematically demolisher her Thai rival. She won the fourth and fifth games with a lot to spare and with her blistering forehands levelled the score rather quickly. By then the Thai was losing her steam and was definitely making more unforced errors which did not help her cause. In fact, it told upon in the decider that the Japanese surged ahead with a quick lead and kept herself nicely to win 11-2.
 

 Archana falters

As for both the Indian boys, it was a huge task against their better opponents. In fact, both Zhang and Helshan were not only far superior and experienced players but are the regulars on the global junior circuit events. Yet, one would have expected them to put up a semblance of fight in a significant tournament like this. If only they had shown some gumption, it would have come as a morale booster.

Archana began well but her Romanian rival evened out by taking the second set. However, it was the third which tilted the scales in favour of Andreea as after the Indian levelled 8-8, she failed to capitalize on it and the Romanian, a tricky player, seized the opportunity to go 2-0 and 3-0 up. Though Archana tried to win the fifth game, it was going to be difficult for the Indian as she failed to counter her flicks when returned short and those powerful forehands.

Korean Seri Park, the 12th seed, surprised third seed Zhu Chengzhu of Hong Kong with a 4-2 win in group 3 while in another match in the same group, 14th seed Angela Guan shocked sixth-seeded Brazilian Bruna Takahashi by a similar margin of triumph.

The battle between two Asians went neck and neck until the Korean decided to up the ante from game four when she made it 2-2. After that it was Seri all the way as the Hong Kong paddler couldn’t do much against the top-spin play of Seri. On the other hand, Angela had to muster courage to keep her on track after 1-2 score. The American of Chinese origin did precisely that and won the next three games to put her closer to the second-stage qualification course.    

Results:

Junior Boys:

Group 1: Zhang Kai (USA) bt Mudit Dani (IND) 4-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-9, 11-4), An Jaehyun (KOR) bt Jonah Schlie (GER) 4-1 (11-3, 11-9, 10-12,11-4, 11-8).  

Group 2: Carlos Vedriel (ESP) bt Darko Jorgic (SLO) 4-1 (11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-4), Helshan Weerasinghe (ENG) 4-0 bt Siddhesh Pandey 4-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-5, 11-3).

Junior Girls:

Group 1: Adina Diaconu (ROU) bt Zhang Xuan (ESP) 4-2 (6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 11-3, 11-6), Lin Po-Hsuan (TPE) bt Amira Yousry (EGY) 4-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8).

Group 2: Miyuu Kihara (JPN) bt Tamolwan Khetkhuan (THA) 4-3 (1-11, 2-11, 13-15, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7, 11-2), Lin Chia-Hsuan (TPE) bt Wu Jiamuwa (AUS) 4-2 (8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 5-11, 11-5, 11-2).

Group 3: Park Seri (KOR) bt Zhu Chengzhu (HKG) 4-2 (4-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4), Angela Guan (USA) bt Bruna Takahashi (BRA) 4-2 (11-8, 9-11, 10-12, 11-4, 11-4, 11-6).

Group 4: Andreea Dragoman (ROU) bt Archana Girish Kamath (IND) 4-2 (3-11, 11-1, 11-8, 11-3, 7-11, 11-5), Pauline Chasselin (FRA) bt Letcia Nakada (BRA) 4- 1 (6-11, 11-5, 14-12, 13-11, 11-8).