By IANS,
Manama (Bahrain): India lost 0-3 to China in the semi-finals of the Volkswagen World Junior Table Tennis Championships here Tuesday.
India were already assured of a bronze when they beat fancied South Korea 3-2 in the quarterfinals Monday
But they gave a good account of themselves against China before going down. Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai and G. Sathyan each managed to take at least a game off their respective Chinese opponents.
That, in a nutshell, displayed their growing confidence of how they are not afraid of the best in business.
Peter Karlsson, at whose academy the boys train regularly, congratulated them for winning bronze. “Their confident approach against China proves that India’s future in the game is bright.”
Gaoyuan Lin defeated Ghosh 11-2, 6-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6.
Desai, too, took two games off his Chinese rival but Hongyuan Song was too good for the Indian and won 11-5, 9-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-6.
In the third rubber, Jiai Wu accounted for G. Sathyan 11-13, 11-6, 8-11, 11-3, 11-8.
Coach Kamlesh Mehta admitted that his boys were a little overawed by the occasion. “They fought well against the Chinese and that is what matters.”
“This would have given them a nice feel and they can carry the confidence in individual events,” he said.
China entered both the boys and girls finals and will take on Japan in title clashes.