by Ian Marshall, Editor
Success and very much success at the expense of India; in the final of the Cadet Boys’ Singles event he beat Payas Jain (6-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-8), having in the penultimate round ousted Divyansh Srivastava (13-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-4). In the opposite half of the draw, by the very narrowest of margins, Payas Jain had accounted for colleague Aadarsh Om Chhetri.
Similarly, earlier in the day Xiong Mengyang had been the backbone of China’s success in the Cadet Boys’ Team final when facing Aadarsh Om Chhetri and Payas Jain. A three-one win the margin of victory; Xiong Mengyang beat both Aadarsh Om Chhetri (11-7, 11-7, 11-7) and Payas Jain (9-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-6), whilst teaming with Tao Yuchang to win the doubles (11-7, 11-8, 11-4). The one success for India came courtesy of Payas Jain; in the second match of the engagement, he recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat Tao Yuchang (8-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8).
Impressive in the final; en route to the title it had been very much the same. At the quarter-final stage the Chinese duo had recorded a three-nil win in over Milo de Boer and Gabrielius Camara of the Netherlands, before emerging successful in the penultimate round by the same margin, when facing India’s Divyansh Srivastava and Vishwa Deenadaylan.
Similarly, in adjacent half of the draw, Aadarsh Om Chhetri and Payas Jain had been in form; a three-nil success had been the quarter-final margin of victory against England’s Louis Price and Thomas Rayner, before a three-one success in opposition to Spain’s Miguel Angel Pantoja and Diego Lillo had reserved a place in the final.
Gold for China, in the Cadet Boys’ Doubles event, it was gold and a hand in the silver medal for Croatia. At the final hurdle Ivor Ban and Lovro Zovko beat Filip Borovnjak, also from Croatia, who partnered Russia’s Alexey Perfilyev; however it was close. The champions elect had to recover from a two games to nil deficit to secure victory (7-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9).
Success for Croatia but the day belonged to Xiong Mengyang, earlier this year he had been a Cadet Boys’ Singles bronze medallist at the Asian Junior and Cadet Championships; note the name.
