India's Payas Jain enters semifinals at Asian Junior TT

Seventh-seed Payas Jain upset third-seed Yong Izaac Quek of Singapore 9-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 14-12 to enter the semifinals of cadet boys singles at the 25th Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships here on Friday. With at least a bronze medal in his pocket, Payas has almost secured a place for himself in the Asian squad for the World Cadet Championships to be held at Wladyslawowo, Poland, in October.

This will be the second medal for the India at the Championships after the junior boys clinched a silver medal. Earlier, Aadarsh Om Chetri defeated former World No. 1 Yiu Kwan To of Hong Kong, in the pre-quarterfinals but failed to go beyond the quarters, going down to top-seed Chinese Yuanyu Chen 3-11, 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, while the third Indian, Vishwa Deenadayalan, lost in the pre-quarters to Seongil Jang 11-8, 6-11, 4-11, 4-11.

The Delhi boy, who had lost in a meeting with the Singaporean last year, avenged his loss when he went into a full attacking mode, despite losing the opening game. When he lost the third game to concede lead, it looked as if the No. 3 seed had overcome his blues against the Indian. However, Payas upped the ante at the right time after levelling the score to sew it up in the decider and in his third match-point.

In junior boys singles, Manush Shah defeated Singapore's Kun Ting Beh 11-9, 11-5, 11-9, 10-12, 7-11, 5-11, 11-8 in a tough match to enter the quarterfinals where he will take on Japan's Hiroto Shinozuka. The left-handed Indian, who was leading comfortably 3-0, squandered his advantage as the Singaporean made a fine comeback to level the score. In the decider, however, Manush pulled it back to weather the storm.

In junior girls singles, Anusha Kutambale entered the main draw only to exit in the round of 16 when she went down to Kyoka Idesawa of Japan 4-11, 9-11, 4-11, 9-11. In cadet girls singles, Yashaswini Ghorpade entered the quarterfinals after beating Shiu Lam Che Chan from Hong Kong 12-10, 11-8, 11-13, 9-11, 16-14 in what was a tough outing for both.

The Indian emerged victorious in the decider on her fourth match-point. However, Anargaya Manjunath lost her pre-quarterfinals to Thailand's Wanwis Aueawiriyayothin, after taking the first game comfortably. The Thai won 8-11, 11-6, 1-6, 11-7.

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