India's Raj reaches quarters of WTT Youth Star Contender Tunis

Tunis (Tunisia), May 27 (IANS) Young rising India paddler Preyesh Raj Suresh on Thursday made his way into the quarter-finals of the WTT Youth Star Contender Tunis with a thrilling 3-2 win against Sweden's David Bjorkryd.Playing in the under-15 boys singles, the current national sub-junior champion recovered well after being a set down against his Swedish opponent before completing a 7-11, 15-13, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7 victory in the hard-fought five-setter last-16 match.Preyesh will take on Russian Ilia Koniukhov in the quarter-finals.The tournament, scheduled from May 26 to 30 in Tunis, is the first youth international event Indian paddlers are competing in since the coronavirus outbreak. In the U-19 boys singles, Delhi's Payas went down fighting 11-6, 4-11, 8-11, 11-5, 8-11 to Belgium's Adrien Rassenfosse in a round-of-16 match. Another Indian in the U-19 boys singles, Deepit Patil, couldn't progress to the knockout stage as he finished third in group stage.In the women's category, which will take place on Saturday and Sunday, India's Diya Chitale and Swastika Ghosh will be seen competing in the U-19 category.
--IANS rkm/qma