World Junior Championships: Indian Paddler Manav Thakkar enters quarters

Bendigo: Promising Indian paddler Manav Thakkar beat Feng Yi-Hsin of Taiwan 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 9-11, 14-12, 11-1 to enter the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Junior Championships here on Saturday. However, Manush Shah and Jeet Chandra exited after losing their main draw matches in the first round itself.

Jeet lost to Romania’s Cristian Plelta 8-11, 5-11, 8-11, 8-11 while Manush went down to Singapore’s Pang Yew En Koen in a hard fought round of 32 match 11-6, 9-11, 11-4, 5-11, 4-11, 7-11.

Before taking on the Taiwan opponent, the second-seeded Manav defeated Canada’s Jeremy Hazin 11-9, 11-6, 11-3, 11-5 to earn a meeting with Feng, who was equally adept to the demands of the round of 16 ties when he took on the Indian.

Despite the Indian taking the first game for a psychological advantage, Feng came back strongly in the second to level the score.

The match, tantalisingly poised, went the same way until the fourth game. But the tie took a definite turn when Manav managed to win the fifth game after four deuces and saving two game points.

From there, it was Manav all the way as his Taiwan opponent seemed to have thrown in the towel after the crucial loss in the fifth game.

The Indian takes on China’s Xiang Peng in the quarters. IANS

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