India’s Manav Thakkar bagged the junior boys singles gold medal at the 2017 Slovenia Junior and Cadet Open after defeating Japanese Takeru Kashiwa 11-6, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6 in the final at Otocec, PTI reported.
Not only did he claim the singles crown but also emerged as the most successful player of the tournament, having won the doubles gold as well as a silver in the team event earlier.
The second-seeded India was in no mood to relent in the final as he got the better of the 15th seeded Japanese, who had earlier accounted for India’s Parth Virmani in the quarterfinals, without conceding a game.
Incidentally, the Japanese had upset Chinese Taipei’s Feng Yi-Hsin, the top-seed, 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 3-11 13-11, 4-11, 11 -9 in a tough semi-final.
A completely drained out Japanese failed to find his rhythm in the final against Manav, who attacked right from the word go.
Considering his silver-winning effort in the Thailand Open earlier this year, the outing in Slovenia Open has proved to be a great success for the 17-year-old from Surat.
Manav had earlier beaten sixth seed Tai Ming-Wei 11-5, 11-4, 10-12, 11-7, 13-11 in the quarter-final before overcoming ninth seed Egyptian Youssef Abdel-Aziz 11-4, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 in the semis.