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 In a dramatic contest in the quarter-finals of the Boys' Team event at the Volkswagen 2011 World Junior Championships on Monday 14th November 2011, India defeated Korea in a match that had every emotion on display.
From a two-nil lead India was on the brink of securing an historic victory in style but Korea had other plans.
First Baek Kwang II then Kim Dong Hyun secured four game victories to level the match at two-all; with the other quarter-final matches finished all eyes were squarely focused on Kim Dong Hyun and Soumyajit Ghosh.
They were playing to secure a place in the semi-final and a minimum of a bronze medal.
Ghosh the star performer
It was Soumyajit Ghosh who proved the stronger and with exceptionally strong vocal support from his corner, he played out the match to the delight of the travelling delegates from India and his teammates who jumped the barrier and then onto Ghosh in celebration.
After the match Ghosh said: “We are very pleased, Korea are one place above us in the junior world team ranking, they are a good. We can now consider ourselves as better.”
France Secure Bronze
In another quarter-final match up, France looked dominant as they comfortably moved through to the semi-finals with a three-nil victory against a strong side from Chinese Taipei.
Surprisingly coach Jacques Mommessin stated after the match that his players are yet to play their best table tennis in this tournament. They moved on to face Japan who beat Russia three-nil.
In the other quarter-final China, the reigning champions beat Belgium three-nil. Ominously they are yet to drop a game.
Boys' Team Semi-finals: China versus India, France versus Japan
Japan and China Look Invincible
Japan, last year's champions had a potentially tough encounter against Germany. Pertrissa Solja was the star performer for Germany; taking Kasumi Ishikawa, the senior world number seven, to five games, just missing out: 11-9, 7-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-13.
Unfortunately for Germany, Solja didn’t have the chance to play again, as Ayuka Tanioka beat Anja Schuh and then Yuko Imamura defeated Miyu Maeda, both with out dropping a game.
Sweden Outclassed
Sweden's chances of a bronze were halted by the might of China in the Girls' Team event.
Zhu Yuling, Chen Meng and Gu Yuting look in unstoppable form and are clear favourites to claim gold, following an unsuccessful (silver) campaign last year in Bratislava.
Hong Kong versus Romania
Romania’s Bernadette Szocs was unable to keep her team in the match; after winning he first encounter three-one against Hong Kong’s Li Ching Wan, she found Doo Hoi Kem too hot to handle and lost three-nil. The final match score was three-one to Hong Kong.
Chinese Taipei knocked out Korea Republic three-one
Girls Semi-finals: Japan versus Chinese Taipei and China versus Hong Kong
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