Bamboleim (Goa), March 24 (IANS): Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko defeated championship favourite Lam Siu Hang from Hong Kong 4-2 in the Junior Boys final of the Road to Nanjing 2014 series to book his Youth Olympics Games spot at the Mukherjee Stadium here Monday.
He was joined by South Korea’s Seri Park who downed Singapore’s Yee Herng Hwee 4-1 in the Junior Girls final.
Already 12 other paddlers from different continents have qualified for the Youth Olympics to be held at Nanjing later this year.
The No. 2 seeded Kazakh, who won 11-6, 11-8, 4-11, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10, was playing to his strength, which paid dividends. Attacking right from the word go, he blunted his opponent’s strong backhand to a large extent. There were several moments in the final where the top-seeded Hong Kong paddlers looked like coming back. But a cool headed Kazakh made most of Lam’s net errors at crucial junctures to stamp his authority.
The Indians came a cropper as they failed to make a mark in a home championship. However, Suthirtha Mukherjee, seeded No. 1, managed to beat Tang An Qi Angeline of Malaysia to win the bronze. Abhishek Yadav was too pathetic to begin with as he was unable to keep the ball on the table in the semi-finals but did put up a fight against Iran’s Amiri Nia Soroosh, who won 4-2 (7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9).
Results:
Junior Boys: Final: Kirill Gerassimenko (KAZ) bt Lam Siu Hang (HKG) 4-2 (11-6, 11-8, 4-11, 9-11, 11-7, 12-10); Bronze: Amiri Nia Soroosh (IRI) bt Abhishek (IND) 4-2 (7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9); Semi-finals: Lam Siu Hang (HKG) bt Amiri Nia Soroosh (IRI) 4-0 (11-7, 11-4, 12-10, 11-9), Kirill Gerassimenko (KAZ) bt Abhishek Yadav (IND) 4-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-6, 11-6).
Junior Girls: Final: Park Seri (KOR) bt Yee Herng Hwee 4-1 (11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9); Bronze: Suthirtha Mukherjee 9IND) bt Tang An Qi Angeline (MAS) 4-0 (12-10, 11-3, 11-2, 12-10); Semi-finals: Seri Park (KOR) Tan An Qi Angeline (MAS) 4-1 (8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9, 11-6), Yee Herng Hwee (SIN) bt Suthirtha Mukherjee (IND) 4-2 (8-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-4, 11-4).