Indian paddler Payas Jain bags team gold in ITTF tourney

Indian paddler Payas Jain teamed up with South Korea's Seongil Jang and Sora Matsushima of Japan to win the gold medal at the ITTF World Cadet Challenge played in Wladyslawowo, Poland on Monday. The trio, representing Team Asia, was in great form and blanked the Hopes, which is a part of the ITTF developmental program, 3-0 to win the title.

Jang started the proceeding for Asia beating Yong Izaac Quek of Singapore 3-1, while Sora increased the lead further with an identical 3-1 win over Lulian Chirita of Romania. With a 2-0 lead, it came down to Payas to deliver in the third rubber and bring an early end to the tie. The Indian did not fail to deliver and prevailed 3-1 over Daniel Berzosa of Spain to help Asia retain the crown.

Earlier, Asia recorded a comfortable 3-0 victory over Team Europe comprising of Darius Movileanu of Romania, Louis Laffinuer of Belgium and Simon Belik of the Czech Republic. In the girls team event, Yashaswani Ghorpade led the Asian challenge to help them earn a bronze medal with a 3-0 win over Poland.