India reign supreme in team events

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Indian paddlers lived up to the expectations, claiming all four team gold medals on offer on the second day of the South Asian junior table tennis championships here on Sunday.
India were followed by Sri Lanka, who finished with four silver medals, while the bronze medals were shared by Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.
The hosts, despite being inexperienced, came up with a strong show. Only Sudhanshu Grover and Abhishek Yadav were stretched in the junior boys section, with the rest posting authoritative wins. In the junior boys’ final, Grover began the proceeding on a rousing note.
The Indian cruised to a 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 victory over Sri Lankan Vimukthi Wijesiri.
In the second singles, southpaw Yadav had to pull out all the tricks against Sri Lankan Niroshana Kah-Awathatha Liyanahe, who matched the Indian stroke for stroke. Leading 2-0, Yadav made errors in the next with his loose backhand strokes.
Taking the cue, the Sri Lankan took the game to bring some excitement in the match. But that was all he could do as Yadav shut out Liyanahe’s challenge to register a 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6 win.
Rohit Rajasekhar then continued the streak to beat Dilshan Ekanayaka 11-6, 11-4, 11-6 to give India a 3-0 win.
For the cadet boys, Anirban Ghosh was the star as he led the hosts to a 3-0 win over Sri Lanka.
In the women’s section, both the junior and cadet women finished atop in their groups to win the titles.
While Indian junior girls blanked Sri Lanka 3-0, riding on Suthirtha Mukherjee, Manika Batra and Reeth Rishya Tennison’s straight-games win over their respective opponents, the cadet team also registered a straight-games win over the Lankans.