Panaji (Goa), March 28: Padasak Tanviriyavechakul from Thailand and Suthirtha Mukherjee from India emerged champions in the Junior Boys and Junior Girls sections of the 2014 Indian Junior and Cadet Open Table Tennis Championships at the Mukherjee Stadium today.

The top-seeded Thai defeated No. 2 seed Kirill Gerassimenko of Kazakhstan 4-2 in a thrilling final that had all the ingredients—great rallies, good counter and pace throughout the match. The script went along the expected line but the Kazakh, who was too good in patches in the final, could not cope with the blocks as well as the counters from his Thai rival.

What separated the two game-wise was the ability of the Thai to come back despite being two games down. The crucial third game, which got extended, went the Thai way. From there, he never looked behind as he shut out the Kazakh challenge sooner than later to win 7-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-5, 11-2.

“I was not playing as well as I should have been in the first two games and made far too many unforced errors. But I won the crucial third game with some difficult and after that I cashed in on my rival’s mistakes,” said the Thai.

Earlier, Utkarsh Gupta stretched the No. 2 seed in the semifinals with some astonishing rallies and brilliant forehand winners. Down 0-2 Gupta did well to come back and take two sets off his opponents to level the score. But apparently, losing steam and unable to cover the acute angle shots from the Kazakh, Gupta wilted under pressure to bow out.

As for Junior Girls final, it was a foregone conclusion that Suthirtha would win the title, making amends for her Road to Nanjin series loss, where she was the top-seed. But the seasoned Kolkata girl did not have to sweat it out against teammate Ayhika Mukherjee, also from Kolkata, as the former won 4-0, allowing her rival a maximum of seven points in all the four sets.

Singapore’s Shao Feng Ethan downed India’s Manav Thakkar 3-0 (11-2, 11-6, 11-3) for the Cadet Boys crown while the Cadet Girls singles title went to another Singaporean, Hui li Tay who beat India’s Archana Kamath 11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6. The Indian, still on a learning curve, did well to counter her opponent but just about managed to take a game off her.

As a consolation for the Indians, Aishwarya Pathak and Abhinaya Ramesh defeated the other Indian pair Shruti Amrute and Archana Kamath 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 12-10) win the Cadet Girls doubles titles. Otherwise, it was a foreign show all the way.

Results:

Junior Boys (Singles): Padasak Tanviriyavechakul (THA) bt Kirill Gerassimenko (KAZ) 4-2 (7-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-5, 11-2); Semifinals: Padasak T (THA) bt Abhishek Yadav (IND) 4-1 (11-3, 12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7), Kirill G (KAZ) bt Anirban Ghosh (IND) 4-0 (13-11, 11-8, 11-7, 13-11); Doubles (Final): Kirill G/Padasak T (KAZ-THA) bt Utkarsh Gupta/Abhishek Yadav (IND) 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-3).

Junior Girls (Singles): Suthirtha Mukherjee (IND) bt Ayhika Mukherjee 4-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7); Semifinals: Suthirtha Mukherjee (IND) bt Yee Herng Hwee (SIN) 4-1 (5-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7), Ayhika Mukjerjee (IND) bt Tamolwan Khetkhuan (THA) 4-3 (11-5, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9); Doubles (Final): Tamolwan K/An Qi Tang (THA-MAS) bt Hui li Tay/Yee Herng Hwee (SIN) 3-2 (11-9, 11-7, 4-11, 9-11, 11-5).

Cadet Boys: (Singles): Shao Feng Ethan (SIN) bt Manav Thakkar (IND) 3-0 (11-2, 11-6, 11-3); Semifinals: Mnav Thakkar (IND) bt Lucas Tan (SIN) 3-2 (3-11, 11-2, 9-11, 11-7, 13-12), Shao Feng Ethan Poh (SIN) bt VS Harikrishna (IND) 3-0 (11-7 11-4, 11-6); Doubles (Final): Shao Feng Ethan Poh/Lucan Tan (SIN) bt Akaash Nath/Manav Thakkar (IND) 3-1 (11-3, 11-9, 8-11, 14-11).

Cadet Girls: (Singles): Hui li Tay (SIN) bt Archana Kamath (IND) 3-1 (11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6); Semifinals: Hui li Tay (SIN) bt Shruti Amrute (IND) 3-2 (11-9, 11-5, 12-14, 8-11, 11-8), Archana Kamath (IND) bt Aushwarya Pathak (IND) 3-2 (9-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-3, 11-7); Doubles (Final): Aishwarya Pathak/Abhinaya Ramesh bt Shruti Amrute/Archana Kamath 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 12-10).