Indian paddler Ronit Bhanja annexed sliver; Abhishek Yadav-Sarthak Gandhi clinch bronze in Nigeria Open

Mumbai: Indian paddler Ronit Bhanja annexed a silver in the Under-21 Men’s Singles, while Abhishek Yadav and Sarthak Gandhi bagged a bronze in the Men’s Doubles at the 2018 ITTF Challenge, Seamaster Nigeria Open. Ronit had it easy in the first round, downing Tobi Falana 3-0. He had to toil hard in the quarterfinals, though, with Italy’s Antonio Amato putting up a good fight. [caption id=“attachment_4958221” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Ronit Bhanja won silver at 2018 ITTF Challenge, Seamaster Nigeria Open.[/caption] He lost the first set 10-12 but bounced back to clinch the second 11-3. Ronit lost the third set too but then switched gears to bag the last two for a well-deserved 3-2 victory and a place in the last four stage. Riding on the momentum, Ronit towered over Mahmoud Helmy from Egypt for a comprehensive 3-0 win in the semi- finals. However, Shaobo Wang of China, who had a virtually similar run to the finals, proved to be too strong, winning the contest 3-0. In the Men’s Doubles open category, Abhishek Yadav and Sarthak Gandhi defeated the Egyptian pair of Mahmoud Helmy and Ziad Wael 3-1 in the first round. They faced another Egyptian hurdle in the quarter- finals, with Khalid Assar and Mohamed El-Beiali who had defeated the Indian pair of Ronit Bhanja and Mudit Dani in the opening match, looming before them. The match went down to the wire, with Abhishek and Sarthak eventually emerging triumphant with a 3-2 victory. The Indian pair put up a valiant fight in the semifinals against the French pair of Alexandre Robinot and Joe Seyfried but lost 9-11, 11-13, 6-11 to settle for the bronze medal.