Ovtcharov ends teen’s dream run

NEWDELHI: It seemed a mismatch on paper — Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov is 28 while Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan is just 13. Perhaps, it was the novelty that kept spectators rooted to their seats at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium, venue of the ITTF World Tour. The 4-0 score line in the final on Sunday didn’t reveal that the German had to sweat it out.

Ovtcharov raced to a lead, winning the first two games but found the going tough as the match progressed. Despite variation in serve, he found it difficult to collect points as Harimoto made a comeback. After pocketing three games, if Ovtcharov thought it would be easy, he was mistaken as Harimoto didn’t give up. In fact, at one point he led 5-4 and made it 10-all. Ovtcharov had to dig deep to wrap up the contest.

In the women’s final, Matilda Ekholm of Sweden was outplayed by Japan’s Sakura Mori.

Men: Dimitrij

Ovtcharov (Ger) bt T Harimoto (Jpn) 11-6, 11-8, 11-4, 14-12; Women: Sakura Mori (Jpn) bt Matilda Ekholm (Swe) 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 12-10, 6-11, 8-11, 11-6 HTC