WTT Youth Contender: India's Payas Jain wins second successive Under-17 title in Tunisia

New Delhi: India’s Payas Jain claimed his second successive under-17 boys title after defeating Tom Closset of Belgium 3-1 in the WTT Youth Contender final in Tunis. Picking up the threads from where he left off in Otocec, Payas outwitted Tom 7-11, 11-4, 11-4, 15-13 in the summit clash on Sunday. The Delhi lad, who won gold in the same category in Slovenia last week, had a bad start to the final but came back strongly to go up 2-1. However, in the fourth game, his opponent squandered a couple of game points to let the Indian finish in style. In his semi-final, Payas defeated Preyesh Raj Suresh 16-14, 11-8, 11-8. Despite his upper hand in the first game, the Tamil Nadu boy could not breach Payas’ confidence and finally settled with the bronze. Ankur Bhattacharjee, who played an enduring semi-final against Tom Closset, settled for the bronze. In under-19 boys, Payas, however, failed to cross the semi-final hurdle yet again on Sunday. The Indian signed off with a bronze after going down to Louis Laffineur 1-3 (11-9, 10-12, 4-11, 9-11). Payas began well and after a bit of struggle in the second, deuced. The Belgian bounced back well and completed the task soon after taking the second game. In the other semi-final, Maharashtra lad Deepit Patel went down 3-11, 4-11, 7-11 to Adrien Rassanfosse, also a Belgian. Adrien became the eventual winner when he defeated his compatriot Tom in the final. Left-handed Preyesh made up for his loss to take the Under-15 Boys title. He downed Ankur Bhattacharjee in the final 3-1 (11-8, 15-13, 11-13, 11-9). The West Bengal paddler ascended the podium for the second time, this time winning a silver medal. Another Indian, P B Abhinand of Tamil Nadu, settled with a bronze after losing his semi-final 9-11, 12-10, 7-11, 1-11 to Ankur, earlier in the day. In the under-11 boys, it was an Indian show again as Vishruth Ramakrishnan claimed the gold medal after accounting for local boy Amir Essid. The Tamil Nadu boy won 11-4, 11-3, 11-7.