New Delhi, July 19 (Agency) India’s U-15 and U-19 Boys squads defeated Singapore and Hong Kong in the quarterfinals of the 27th Asian Youth 2023 in Doha on Tuesday night, the Table Tennis Federation of India said in a statement on Wednesday. However, the two teams failed to cross the semi-final hurdles and ended up with the bronze medals from the outing, a qualification event for the World Youth Championships in Slovenia in December. The U-15 Girls lost in the quarterfinals 0-3 to Japan, but the U-19 Girls managed to take a game off Japan before bowing out 1-3. In the Under-15 category, P.B. Abhnand beat Le Ellsworth of Singapore 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 to set the ball in motion. Priyanuj Bhattacharyya dropped a game against Xing Yao before overpowering to win 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 12-10, and the two Indians struggled against the pair of Irle Eles and Zhou Jinghe but won 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 6-11, 11-7.
In the semi-final on Wednesday, they went down 0-3 to China. As for the U-19 Boys, the Indians had a tough time against Hong Kong, with their quarterfinal going down to the last rubber in which Jas Modi turned the tables against Yiu Kwan to win 6-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 11-2. Jash, who lost his opening tie to Chan Baldwin Ho Wah 8-11, 5-11, 5-11, lost the first two games to Yiu before pulling up his socks to outwit him to put India in the semi-final. Earlier, Ankur Bhattacharjee beat Yiu 11-8, 11-8. 11-7 before Divyansh Srivastava defeated Li Hon Man 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10 to seal the fate of Hong Kong players. Like their juniors, the U-16 Boys met championship favourites China in the semi-final and lost 0-3 to satisfy themselves with the bronze medal. In position matches, the Under-19 girls finished seventh after beating Iran 3-0.