India's young paddlers Payas Jain and Vishwa Deenadayalan paired up to clinch the bronze medal in the Cadet Boys' team category in the Croatia Junior and Cadet Open here on Sunday.
Representing India 1, Payas and Vishwa found themselves in Group 5 along with Croatia 2, Czech Republic-Egypt and Chile-Mexico. They put up a good show and cruised to the top of the standings with identical 3-0 wins against each of them.
In the quarterfinals against Hungary 1, the Indian duo didn't have the best of starts with Vishwa losing his singles clash 0-3 to Mate Ocsai.
However, Payas Jain restored parity with a 3-0 win over Erik Huzsvar.
The Indian pair breezed to a 3-0 win in the doubles' clash too to take a slender lead. But Payas couldn't seal the tie as he lost to Mate Oscai 2-3 in a close-fought encounter.
With a spot in the semifinals on the line, Vishwa showed nerves of steel to defeat Eriz Huzsvar 3-2 in a nail-biting finish.
In the semifinals, the Indian team was up against the formidable Chinese team. Even though they fought tooth and nail, they couldn't down the Chinese pair, losing 0-3 to settle for a bronze medal.
In other events, the Indian paddlers couldn't make their way beyond the quarterfinal mark as Payas Jain (Cadet Boys), Reagan Alburquerque and Manush Shah (Junior Boys' Doubles), Diya Chitale and Swastika Ghosh (Junior Girls' Doubles) and Vishwa & Payas (Junior Boys' Doubles) lost out to their respective opponents.
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