New Delhi, July 24: The Chinese played to their script in almost every final of the the NCC 17th Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships at the Tyagaraj Stadium on Sunday until Japan’s Maharu Yoshimura wrote his own for the boys’ final and stopped the Chinese juggernaut on its tracks to snatch the crown in a see-saw battle that consumed an entire hour.

And at the end Yoshimura beat Yin Hang 13-15,11-6, 11-9, 11-8, 11-13, 14-12 and made small, but a serious breach in the China wall which the latter will look to plug soon. Yoshimura, after losing the first game at 13-15, was all over his Chinese rival. Employing his back hand to greater effect he blocked whatever came from the Chinese racquet.

Forcing Hang on the back foot and into unforced errors, Yoshimura displayed his rallying power and shot making even at crunch situations to surprise his opponent. Though the Chinese never gave up, taking the fifth game, found very little answer to the Japanese scorching serves—two of the last points he took off serves to shut out Hang’s challenge.

Nevertheless, the Chinese domination could not be ignored. The girls’ title went to Zhu Yuling who defeated compatriot Zhao Yan 7-11, 11-6, 11-8, 9-11, 11-3, 11-9 after being stretched a bit.

INDIAN EXCEL: Apart from these, the Indian paddlers’ standing in the championships stood out, thanks to the two berths that the junior boys and girls booked in the World Junior Championships in Bahrain. No doubt, the boys did it in style, reaching the semifinals and winning the bronze medal—like they did in Bangkok last year—but the girls too joined them taking the circuitous route of playoffs. This is the first time ever that both the boys and girls have done it together.

The icing on the cake, however, was an additional bronze medal which Abhishek Yadav claimed in the Cadet boys’ singles, beating top-seed Korean Jonghoon Lim 9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9. He, however, Chinese Kai Zhou beat Yadav 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 12-0 in the semifinals. Nevertheless, the win has assured Yadav a berth in the World Cadet Challenge.

This is where the Indians stood out from the rest of the competitors from Asia, minus the top TT-playing nations like China, Japan and Korea.

 As expected, in junior boys the Chinese pair of Gaoyan Lin and Jiaji Wu combined to beat Japanese duo Maharu Yoshimura and Asuka Sakai 3-1 (11-13, 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6) to take home the winners’ trophy. In the junior section, it was a case of China versus China and the pair that emerged winners was Yuting Gu and Yuling Zhu 3-1 (11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6) against Yan Zhao and Ruochen Gu.

The results:

Junior boys (final): Maharu Yoshimura (Jpn) bt Yin Hang (Chn) 13-15,11-6, 11-9, 11-8, 11-13, 14-12; (semifinals): Yin Hang (Chn) bt LinGaoyuan (Chn) 7-1, 12-10, 11-8, 15-13, 5-11, 11-5; Maharu Yoshimura (Jpn) bt Wu Jiaji (Chn) 11-8, 11-13, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5.

Junior girls: (final): Zhu Yuling (Chn) bt Zhao Yan (Chn) 7-11, 11-6,11-8, 9-11, 11-3, 11-9; (semifinals): Zhu bt Ayuka Tanioka (Jpn) 11-7, 11-3, 11-3, 12-14, 11-3; Zhao bt Gu Yuting (Chn) 6-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8, 11-7.

Junior boys’ doubles (final): Lin Gaoyuan and Wu Jiaji (Chn) bt Maharu Yoshimura and Asuka Sakai (Jpn) 11-13, 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6.

Junior girls’ doubles: Gu Yuting and Zhu Yuling (Chn) bt Zhao Yan and Gu Ruochen (Chn) 11-7, 11-8, 11-3.

Cadet boys: (final): Zhou Qihao (Chn) bt Zhou Kai (Chn) 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5, 12-10; (semifinals): Zhou Kai bt Abhishek Yadav (Ind) 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 12-10; Zhou Qihao bt Yu Ziyang (Chn) 8-11,12-14, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-6).

Cadet girls: (final): Liu Gaoyang (Chn) bt Zhu Chaohui (Chn) 11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 11-5, 12-10; (semifinals): Zhu bt Doo Hoi Kem (Hkg) 11-9, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6; Liu bt Kim Jisun (Kor) 11-8, 4-11, 11-3, 11-7,11-4.