By Neha Aggarwal
The group two comprised of Yukiya Uda (JPN), Li Hsin-Yang (TPE), Yanapong Panagitgun (THA) and Ronit Bhanja (IND). After the conclusion of all the rounds, Panagitgun lost all his three matches and thus was ruled out of the calculation. The rest three players won two matches each and lost one match, thus entering into a triple tie. Each win is awarded two points and a loss is awarded one point.
Yukiya Uda secured five points, winning over Panagitgun (4-1) and Bhanja (4-2) and lost to Li Hsin-Yang (1-4). Li Hsin- Yang too earned five points as he beat Yukiya (4-1) and Panagitgun (4-1) but lost to Bhanja (3-4). Finally, Ronit Bhanja also earned five points as he won against Li Hsin- Yang (4-3), Panagitgun (4-1) and lost to Yukiya (2-4).
However, when the ratio of the games won over games lost was calculated, all the confusion became clear. The coaches and players were tensed to find out who will make it to the last eight. To everyone’s surprise, Li Hsin-Yang emerged at the first spot with an average of 1.4, Ronit Bhanja had an average of 0.85 and Yukiya Uda was narrowly placed third with an average of 0.83.
In this complex situation, Li Hsin-Yang benefitted the most, he is now seeded second in the quarter final stage and will compete against Manav Vikash Thakkar (IND). Manav secured the second spot in group two.
In the morning session, he beat USA’s Victor Liu in a thrilling 4-2 encounter which gave him a confidence boost. “His backhand was good but I caught him on his forehand, which fetched me a lot of points. I balanced my attack and defense well today. The crowd support helped me to pump my confidence up. I feel great to be in quarter finals and I will try my best to win it” said the very confident Manav.
Top seed Darko Jorgic (SLO) maintained his balance as he qualified in the top place and is seeded number one in the round of last eight. He will compete against Romania’s Alexandru Manole in the quarter final stage.
“I feel great today, it was important to win in the group stage. Last year in the quarter- finals I lost 3-4, 11-9, which still hurts. I will do my best to win the title this year” Darko Jorgic.
In group four, Germany’s Tobias Hippler had to be content with the second positin as he lost to Lai Chi-Chien (TPE) who earned the top spot. In the knock out stage, Hippler will now play against Koyo Kanamitsu (JPN) and Lai Chi-Chien has been drawn against India’s star Ronit Bhanja.
Matches will be played at 4:30pm IST. Watch all the matches LIVE on ITTF’s YouTube Channel.
