Hyderabad, December 9: Hosts India have had a reasonably grand opening to their campaign, winning their group matches in both the boys and girls sections of the Volkswagen 2012 World Junior Table Tennis Championships at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.

The boys’ team defeated Chile 3-0 and have Hong Kong to contend with in their next outing while the girls’ squad who beat USA by the same margin will take on France, an unknown commodity as far as the hosts are concerned. This makes the job a little more complicated, but coach Kamlesh Mehta was confident of a better from the girls against France.

With just the top team from each group qualifying, the hosts have an uphill task even before joining the top eight boys’ squads in Stage 2. As for the girls, their match against France will decide whether they form part of the top 12 teams or go on to plaly for positions from 13 to 20. The next round matches are slated after the formal inauguration by state chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.

Abhishek Yadav played a patchy game against Sebastian Roman in the first match, but the Indian countered him well after the first two games at the end of which the honours were even. Abhishek made some unforced errors and gave away easy points to his opponent as the first game ended 17-15 in faour of the Indian. However, the Chilean was quick to make amends and bring some order to his game by winning it rather easily.

But what transformed the Indian game plan was a bit of advice from coach Bhavani Mukherjee who pressed him to go all out. That paid dividends as his rival was often caught on the wrong foot, despite playing his forehands and backhands with equal felicity. Sudhanshu Grover accounted forGustavo Gomes despite dropping the first game and Utkarsh Gupta completed the formality by beating No. 3 Chilean Juan Lamadrid in straight sets.

The girls’ match against USA had its up and down to begin with when India’s No. 1 player Manika Batra was down midway in the second and fourth games against Vy Bui. But the experienced Indian was quick to recover and kept a control over her strokes which helped India’s cause. “She was a bit rusty to being with, but quick to pick herself up,” said Mehta about Manika’s game.

Reeth Rishya, on the other hand, had a good game against her American opponent Anna Du, but the latter’s topspin was difficult to handle for the Indian at times. A timely timeout in the third game brought out the desired results as Reeth’s blocks started working wonders and fetched several winners at crucial junctures. From there onward, Reeth kept her cool to roll her opponent over. The promising Suthirtha Mukherjee showed what she is capable of as she shut out whatever little challenged that came from Sara Tan in a one-sided affair.

Understandably, the goings was not that tough in the opening session of group matches for most of the teams except for a few like the Czech Republic in the boys section and Belarus in the women’s category. Both teams were taken a game off by their opponents, USA and Wales but that did not alter the course of their fortunes.

With just one team from each group qualifying for the second stage, one expected some intense group matches war among teams, but that did not materialize as the pretenders were put in place in both the sections. In fact, their real headache will begin once they move into the next stage where they will run into the top eight teams, some of whom are the real contenders.

Results:

Junior Boys:

Group A (Stage 1): Hong Kong bt Chile 3-0 (Ka Tuk Hung bt Gustavo Gomez 9-11, 11-13, 11-8, 11-5, 11-5, Chung Hei Chiu bt Sebastian Roman 11-3, 11-7, 11-8, Hong Ming Li bt Alfonso Olave 10-12, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 12-10), India bt Chile 3-0 (Abhishek Yadav bt Sebastian Roman 17-15, 8-11, 11-2, 11-9, Sudhanshu Grover bt Gustavo Gomez 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9, Utkarsh Gupta bt Juan Lamadrid 11-6, 11-6, 12-10).

Group B (Stage 1): Czech Republic bt USA 3-1 (David Reitspies bt Kunal Chodri 11-8, 101-12, 11-9, 11-7, Ondrej Bajger bt Grant Li 11-6, 11-5, 11-5, Michal Benes lost to Theodore Tran 11-13, 11-2, 5-11, 11-7, 7-1, David Reitspies bt Grant Li 11-7, 14-12, 11-9), Egypt bt USA 3-0 (Omar Bedair bt Kunal Chodri 11-8, 11-6, 11-4, Shady Magdy bt Kanak Jha 11-5, 11-7, 11-9, Abdel-Rahman Mohammad bt Theodore Tran 11-5, 11-8, 11-4).

Group C (Stage 1): Belgium bt New Zealand 3-0 (Florent Lambiet bt Kevin Wu 11-5, 11-9, 11-2, obin Devos bt Roger Rao 11-4, 11-3, 11-9, Martin Allegro bt Daniel Lowe 11-3, 11-9, 11-13, 11-5), Italy bt New Zealand 3-0 (Alessandro Baciocchi bt Roger Rao 14-12, 11-9, 11-8, Leonardo Mutti bt Kevin Wu 11-7, 11-9, 11-8, Damiano Seretti bt Liam Young 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7).

Group D (Stage 1):Hungary bt Australia 3-0 (Nandor Ecseki bt Heming Hu 11-6, 11-3, 11-3, Marton Szita bt Ivan Sulfaro 11-5, 11-7, 11-0, Adam Szudi bt Nathan van der Heiden 11-4, 11-6, 11-8), Argentina bt Australia 3-1 (Fermin Tenti bt Ivan Sulfaro 11-6, 11-7, 11-7, Juan Daher lost to Heming Hu 11-9, 8-11, 3-11, 11-9, 8-11, Fermin Tenti bt Heming Hu 6-11, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10).

Junior Girls:

Group A (Stage 1): Croatia bt Venezuela 3-0 (Mateja Jeger bt Winberly Montero 11-2, 11-2, 11-9, Lea Rakovac bt Gremlis Arvelo 11-5, 11-5, 11-8, Ivana Tubikanec bt Josmary Lucena 6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 12-10), Caroline Kumahara bt Winberly Montero 11-3, 11-4, 11-8, Karina Hayama bt Gremlis Arvelo 11-9, 11-5, 11-6, Bruna Alexandre bt Josmary Lucena 11-3, 11-7, 11-6).

Group B (Stage 1): Chinese Taipei bt Puerto Rico 3-0 (Yu-Wen Huang bt Carelyn Cordero 11-9, 11-8, 11-4, Hisn Huang bt Daniely Rios 8-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8, 11-5, Ya-Ting Hsu bt Melanie Diaz 11-5, 11-6, 11-5), Egypt bt Puerto Rico 3-1 (Alia Doaa bt Carelyn Cordero 3-11, 7-11, 8-11, Dina Meshref bt Daniely Rios 9-11, 12-10, 13-11, 11-4, Dina Meshref bt Carelyn Cordero 11-5, 11-4, 11-8).

Group C (Stage 1): France bt Australia 3-0 (Laura Pfefer 11-3, 11-7, 11-7, Sarah Berge bt Vy Bui 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, Marina Berho bt Kayla Coombs 11-5, 11-6, 11-5), India bt Australia 3-0 (Manika Batra bt Vy Bui 11-8, 11-7, 11-8, T. Reeth Rishya bt Anna Du 11-6, 4-11, 11-8, 11-6, Suthirtha Mukherjee bt Sarah Tan 11-5, 11-1, 11-8).

Group D (Stage 1): Belarus bt Wales 3-1 (Katsiaryna Baravok bt Angharad 11-5, 11-6, 11-5, Alina Arlouskaya bt Charlotte 11-6, 11-4, 7-11, 9-11, 13-11, Maryia Kuchuk bt Megan Phillips 10-12, 14-16, 11-7, 14-12, 11-9), Netherlands bt Wales 3-1 (Kim Vermaas bt Angharad 11-6, 11-2, 11-7, Alice Barendregt lost to Charlotte Carey 11-5, 2-11, 10-12, 5-11, Britt Eerland bt Megan Phillips 11-2, 11-7, 11-5, Kim Vermaas bt Charlotte Carey 11-8, 11-3, 11-6).