Indian paddlers win Junior Boys team title in Serbia

Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah and Archana Kamat won several medals for India at the Serbia Open Junior and Cadet Open.

Representative image.

The Indian boys clinched the gold medal in the Team Event of the Serbia Open Junior and Cadet Open in Belgrade on Saturday evening.

Earlier, Manav Thakkar claimed two silver medals and Manush Shah and Archana Kamat won a silver and a bronze each.

The Indian team, featuring Manav, Manush and Ishaan Hingorani, beat the US-Canadian team of Sharon Alguetti, Gal Alguetti and Jeremy Hazin 3-1 in the final to win the coveted title.

Manav began the medal hunt by winning silver while Vadodara’s Manush claimed the bronze in the Junior Boys’ Singles category. They then combined to win another silver for India in the Junior Boys Doubles.

Bengaluru’s Archana too showed her mettle as she raced to the silver in the Junior Girls’ Singles and a bronze in the Girls’ Doubles with Serbia’s Dragana Vignijevic.

Manav, the top seed at the championship, went down fighting to USA’s Sharon in an epic final to miss the gold in the Singles. He did well to recover from a two-game deficit to take the match to the seventh game. But he lost 3-4 (7-11, 10-12, 11-6, 12-14, 11-8, 11-8, 7-11). 

Manav was in his elements in the doubles too, in the company of Manush. But the Canadian-Romania duo of Jeremy Hazin and Paul Mladin proved to be better, as it won 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-13, 12-10).

In the Junior Girls’ category, top seeded Archana put up a valiant battle but couldn’t get the better of Serbia’s Sabina Surjan. She lost 3-4 (11-9, 4-11, 7-11, 13-11, 11-3, 7-11, 8-11).

She and her local partner Dragana lost to the German pair of Sophia Klee and Yuki Tsutsui 2-3 (5-11, 11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 5-11).