Super Manav triumphs in Canada
December 8 : Surat’s Manav Thakkar made history when he claimed U-21 Boys’ singles title in the first ever ITTF Challenge Series or ITTF World Tour tournament to be held in Canada.
On Saturday, at the 2019 ITTF Challenge Plus Benemax-Virgo North American Open in Markham, Manav beat Argentina’s Martin Bentancor to gain the distinction of being the very first winner of the tournament in Canada.
It is the first title at an open international tournament for Manav. In fact, it is the first under 21 men’s singles title for India since the ITTF Challenge Series became an entity in its own right in January 2017, as opposed to being an integral part of the ITTF World Tour.
In the under 21 men’s singles event final second seed Manav needed just over 20 minutes to dispatch Bentancor, the no.14 seed, 11-3 11-5 11-6 to arrest the title.
Manav follows the example of his teammates Harmeet Desai, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Soumyajit Ghosh, all ITTF World Tour under 21 men’s singles winners. In 2012 Harmeet Desai won in Brazil, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in Egypt; Soumyajit Ghosh succeeded in 2011 in Chile and in 2013, like Harmeet Desai, in Brazil.
On the ITTF World Junior Circuit, Manav had won the boys’ singles event in 2016 on home soil in Indore; he retained the title the following year in New Delhi, as well as succeeding in Slovenia. Just over one year ago in November 2018, he claimed the top prize in Portugal.
There were a few more first for Manav. It was the first time at an ITTF Challenge Series or ITTF World Tour tournament that the Surti had ever reached the quarter-finals of a Men’s singles event.
Seeded 25th, Manav beat Canada’s Chen Hongtao (8-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5), Mexico’s Marcos Madrid, the no.16 seed (11-6, 11-9, 11-8, 11-2) and Frenchman Alexandre Robinot, the no.24 seed (12-10, 11-7, 12-10, 4-11, 11-9) to book his place in the last eight where China’s Xiang Peng ended adventures (11-7, 11-4, 11-6, 1-11, 4-11, 11-7).
Results of Manav in U-21 section
PQF: beat G Beixun (China) 12-10 11-4 11-7
QF: beat Cifuentes Horacio (Arg) 11-5 11-9 11-5
SF: Lorenzo Santiago (Arg) 11-7 12-10 7-11 11-6
ITTF : https://www.ittf.com/2019/12/08/manav-vikash-thakkar-first-among-equals/
Manav at ITTF Challange_Dec2019