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India’s Payas Jain claimed his second successive under-17 boys title after defeating Tom Closset of Belgium 3-1 in the WTT Youth Contender final in Tunis.
Picking up the threads from where he left off in Otocec, Payas outwitted Tom 7-11, 11-4, 11-4, 15-13 in the summit clash on Sunday.
The Delhi lad, who won gold in the same category in Slovenia last week, had a bad start to the final but came back strongly to go up 2-1.
However, in the fourth game, his opponent squandered a couple of game points to let the Indian finish in style.
In his semi-final, Payas defeated Preyesh Raj Suresh 16-14, 11-8, 11-8.
Despite his upper hand in the first game, the Tamil Nadu boy could not breach Payas’ confidence and finally settled with the bronze.
Ankur Bhattacharjee, who played an enduring semi-final against Tom Closset, won the bronze.
In under-19 boys, Payas, however, failed to cross the semi-final hurdle yet again on Sunday.
The Indian signed off with a bronze after going down to Louis Laffineur 1-3 (11-9, 10-12, 4-11, 9-11).
Payas began well and after a bit of struggle in the second, deuced. The Belgian bounced back well and completed the task soon after taking the second game.
In the other semi-final, Maharashtra lad Deepit Patel went down 3-11, 4-11, 7-11 to…