Payas Jain and Yashaswini Ghorpade won the Asian Junior and Cadet Championships in Laos on a high note, defeating the Chinese duo of Han Xinyuan and Qin Yuxuan 3-2 in a thrilling final on September 6.
The Indians won 11-9, 11-1, 10-12, 7-11, and 11-8.
Incidentally, this was the first gold medal that the Indian juniors have won in an Asian Championships, and it came close on the heels of our first mixed gold at the CWG through Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula in Birmingham last month.
India won three bronze medals
In addition, India won three bronze medals: one in the U-19 Boys Doubles, one in the U-19 Girls Singles, and one in the U-19 Boys team event. Overall, the Indians performed admirably, returning home with four medals.
The top-seeded Indian pair got off to a quick 2-0 lead before the Chinese pair came back to win the next two games. However, Payas and Yashaswini outwitted their opponents in the decider by combining cleverly and attacking in a measured manner.
Earlier, the top-seeded Karnataka girl advanced to the quarterfinals of the Under-19 Girls singles but lost to Chen Yi of China in the semis, losing in straight games of 13-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-3.
After the first two games, in which Yashaswini demonstrated her fighting abilities, she lost steam and did not perform as well in the next two.
Payas, who had competed in the U-19 Boys Doubles with Delhi teammate Yashansh Malik until the previous round, was unable to repeat their performance in the semifinals against the Japanese duo of Yuta Iimura and Yuhi Sakai.
The Japanese paddlers, which became the eventual gold-winner, beat the Indians 11-8, 11-7, 12-14, 11-6, and settled for bronze.
