Eighteen-year-old Oh Junsung from Korea clinched his first-ever WTT Star Contender Mens’s Singles title in Chennai on Sunday after prevailing over France’s Poret Thibault in a close encounter that went the full distance of seven games. Throughout the match, both the players traded games with one another until the decider, where the Korean pulled ahead, leading 8-3 when his coach called for a timeout.

It appears that the sane advice from the sidelines was well worth it as the Korean appeared to be more confident in his strokes against an even more aggressive Frenchman who was firing on both cylinders. But the words with his coach appeared to do the trick as he notched up five championship points and was serving for the championship match at 10-05. Poret saved two championship points, but that’s all he could do as the younger of the two put it past him, closing the decider at 11-7.

Advertisement

In fact, since there has to be a winner and a loser, so there was this Korean standing tall today, but the world will hear about them for some very long time to come for their energetic, vivacious, and high-quality table tennis. It was Oh Junsung, whose father is also a table tennis player and a commentator of the game, who showed his early control over the game, even though it was the French who took the lead with winning the first game. But, after this, both players won the alternate games to get the match tied up with 3-game win each.

In the decider, Junsung mounted a big lead, and it was just catching up that Thibault could do, and in the end, it was just not enough as he buckled at 7. But it was a worthy final of a super-charged tournament. If the men’s singles rubber was so engaging, it was the women’s singles match that educated the spectators and supporters of the game with something of a table tennis rule called “Expedite”.

This rule gets pressed into service if a game lasts longer than 10 minutes, and then every rally in the game must be finished in 13 exchanges of shots. The finalists, both from Japan, presented a display of excellent display of all-round table tennis—both defensive and offensive—shots to such an extent that the rule “Expedite” had to be enforced.

Then, the title clash for Women’s Single—between Harimoto Miwa and Hashimoto Honoka—oozed out energy from both the winner and the loser as they held rallies that seemed more like practice sessions than the final of a global competitive match in progress. For the students of the game, both the players were perfect demonstrators of every shot that’s in the game—push, chop, forehand and backhand top spins, and the counter topspin drives. And the sudden chop or a chop block.

More importantly, the duel between the two Japanese girls lasted one hour and fifteen minutes—almost double or triple the average match in the tournament. Of course, a little extra time is understandable as the finals was best of seven games, but even then the rallies were extended, and some could count until 22 in one such exchange at the end of which even the spectators were seemingly tired.

Before Korean Oh Jungsung and Japan’s Miwa Harimoto were crowned the Men’s and Women’s single champions, the Indian challenge, Manav Thakkar, bowed out in the semifinals. The 24-year-old Manav Thakkar made history as he became the first-ever Indian to reach the semifinals of any WTT ranking tournament worldwide but fell to France’s Thibault in four games.

“Manav has created history today at the WTT by reaching where he has reached. And the crop of youngsters waiting in the wings makes us very proud and confident of the future of the game in India,” said Deepak Malik, CEO of Stupa Analytics, one of the organisers of the championship event along with the Tamil Nadu Sports Development Authority.

It is the fortune of the TT game and of the younger players that TT legend Sharat Kamal has been mentoring his teammates, competitors, and younger elements all through his playing days, Malik said and hoped that Sharat Kamal came into the system to give back to the game at the earliest. Yes, he is slated to work with Tamil Nadu in developing the game, which has taken deep roots in the state, but “we would be happy if he spent time with youngsters all over the country.”

The four-day sporting event is more like our farewell, filled with gratitude to the sportsman who inspires young boys and girls, said several players and officials connected with the sport present at the event.

Results:

Men’s Singles Finals

Oh Jun Sunjung Vs Thiabault Poret (4-3) 9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 9-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7.

Men’s Singles (Semifinals)

Oh Jun-sung (KOR) [12] Vs Flavien Coton (FRA) 3-0: 11-4, 12-10, 11-7

Thibault Poret (FRA) Vs. Manav Thakkar (IND) 3-1: 12-10, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7

(Final, Best of 7)

Oh Jun-sung (KOR) [12] Vs. Thibault Poret (FRA) 4-3: 9-11, 11-7, 11-3, 9-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-7

Women’s Singles (Semifinals)

Miwa Harimoto (JPN) [2] Vs. Shin Yu-bin (KOR) [4] 3-0: 11-8, 11-4, 12-10

Honoka Hashimoto (JPN) [13] Vs. Kim Nayeong (KOR) 3-0: 11-6, 11-2, 11-2

(Final, Best of 7)

Miwa Harimoto (JPN) [2] Vs. Honoka Hashimoto (JPN) [13] 4-2: 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7

Mixed Doubles (Final)

Lim Jong-hoon (KOR)/Shin Yu-bin (KOR) [2] Vs. Maharu Yoshimura (JPN)/Satsuki Odo (JPN) [Q] 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-4