Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah stunned the top-seeded Feng I-Hsin and Tai Ming-Wei to win the gold medal in junior boys doubles at the 2017 Slovenia Open Junior and Cadet Open at Otocec on Sunday. The Indians beat the Chinese Taipei pair 11-7, 11-6, 17-15 in the final.
Earlier, the second-seeded Indian pair had beaten compatriots Anukram Jain and Snehit Suravajjula 11-8, 8-11, 9 -11, 11-7, 14-12 in the semi-final.
In the final, the Indians unleashed their attack to put pressure on the top seeds. The left-right combination proved to be too hot for the Taipei pair which tried to come back in the third game which saw several deuces and the pair saving four match points, reported PTI.
But before the final action, both Anukram and Snehit had accounted for No 4 seeds from Japan, Aoto Azasu and Takeru Kashiwa 3-2 in the round of 16 and then packed off local favourites Tilen Cvetko and peter Hribar from Slovokia 11-13, 11-8, 13-11, 8-11, 11-8 in the quarterfinals.
In the singles, top-seeded Jeho Himnakulhpuingheta reached the Cadet Boys singles final, beating Iran’s Radin Khayyam 11 -5, 1-4, 11-9 to earn a final meeting with Ireland’s Owen Cathcard, the No 2 seed, who accounted for Ivor Ban 11-8, 11 -1, 6-11, 11-5 from Croatia. Jeho, who had earlier been beaten twice by his adversary in the Belgium Open, will get his chance to avenge those losses in the final.
Earlier, Payas Jain and Diya Chitale bowed out in the Cadet quarterfinals, Radin Khayyam winning 9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 against Payas and Chen Ci-Xuan downing Diya 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7.