Paddlers bag four medals

India’s young paddlers stole the limelight in the Bahrain Junior and Cadet Open, clinching a rich haul of four medals, including a gold, two silver and a bronze, in Manama, Bahrain late on Friday night.

All three Indian teams in fray in the Cadet Girls’ Team category displayed great skill and grit to pave their way into the semifinals of the tournament that is part of the ITTF Premium Junior Circuit.

Team India 2, comprising of Yashaswini Ghorpade and Kavya Sree Baskar, faced off against the mighty Egypt 1 team for a place in the final while it turned out into an all- Indian clash in the second semifinal.

Yashaswini led from the front and won both her singles, including the decider to help India 2 to a hard- fought 3- 2 victory over Farida Badawy and Hana Goda of Egypt.

India 1, comprising of Suhana Saini and Anargya Manjunath, proved to be too strong for their compatriots India 3 ( Radhika Sakpal and Hardee Patel), beating them 3- 0 to set up an allIndian clash in the finals.

India 3 had to be content with a bronze medal for their efforts.

In the final, the duo of Suhana and Anargya were in red hot form, steamrolling past Yashaswini and Kavya ( India 2) 3- 0 to clinch the gold medal. India 2 picked up the silver.

India were among one of the five teams in fray in the Junior Girls’ category, which was played in a round robin format, with each team bagging two points for a win and one for a defeat.

The Indian team which consisted of Manushree Patil and Swastika Ghosh got off to flier and recorded a thumping 3- 0 victory over Malamatenia Papadimitriou of Greece and Aya Ali of Syria.

They continued their momentum and picked up a hard- fought 3- 2 win over Egypt 1 and then scampered past Egypt 2 ( 3- 1) to make it three consecutive wins. Their run came to an end against Russia, the eventual champions, losing 0- 3 to finish with seven points and the silver medal.