Table tennis: Arjun Sriram claims U-13 crown at ISC tourney

Sports Monday 08/May/2017 17:56 PM
By: Times News Service
Table tennis: Arjun Sriram claims U-13 crown at ISC tourney

Muscat: Arjun Sriram justified his top ranking by claiming the boys under-13 singles crown at Indian Social Club’s Al-Amana Building Materials Company-sponsored Annual Table Tennis Tournament.
In a thrilling best-of-seven-games final, Arjun had to brave the brilliant and determined effort put in by challenger Johnathan Ferdinand before winning in six games. Johnathan matched Arjun stroke for stroke and game for game before going down fighting. Arjun won with final score of 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 11-5.
Shounak Kelkar, the top seed in the boys under-15 singles, booked his berth in the final with a brilliant 111-4, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8 victory over fourth seed Prakhar Pateriya in the semifinal.
In the final, Shounak will take on No. 3 seed Allan Thiyagaseelan who upset second seed Sanskar Dubey. In the semifinal, Allan showed positive intent and fighting qualities as he rallied from a game down and braved the determination of the second seed before securing a 10-12, 11-4, 12-10, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9 victory.
Shounak Kelkar has advanced to the semifinals of the boys under-17 singles after winning all his three matches in the round-robin league. Yash Tanna also won all his matches to qualify for the last four stage. The other two completing the semifinal line-up are R. Vignesh and Sanskar Dubey.