Payas Jain wins WTT Youth Contenders title

Young Indian table tennis player Payas Jain clinched another title in the Under-17 boys category by defeating Tom Closet of Belgium in the WTT Youth Contenders final in Tunisia’s capital Tunis.

Payas kept his Slovenia’s Otoek’s streak going, beating his rival Tom 3–1 (7–11, 11–4, 11–4, 15–13) in the final and second successive in the under-17 boys category. Captured the title. The Delhi lad, who won the gold medal in the same category in Slovenia last week, got off to a poor start but he came back strongly to take a 2-1 lead. His opponent lost a few game points in the fourth game, which allowed the young Indian to finish the match in style.

Payas had earlier defeated compatriot Raj Suresh in straight sets 16-14, 11-8, 11-8 in the semi-final match. Despite looking dominant in the first game, Tamil Nadu’s Raj Suresh could not break Payas’s confidence and had to settle for bronze in the end.