Dipika wins but India lose title match to Egypt

Dipika Pallikal saved seven match before edging past Nour El Sherbini in a thriller but India lost 1-2 the summit clash to Egypt to end ruuners-up in the Chennai Open World Junior Cup Team championship in Chennai on Sunday.

Ravi Dixit lost to Marwan Hossam El Shorbagy 4-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7 and Ramit Tandon was beaten by Karim Samy Abdel Gawad 12-10, 11-4, 6-11, 11-8 as Dipika's hard work went in vain.

Dipika, who was the toast of the evening and cheered by a 8,000 strong holiday crowd, stood out with her superlative performance to beat Nour El Sherbini at 7-11, 11-4, 8-11, 14-12, 11-5.

After Ravi had lost his encounter to highly seeded world junior champion Marwan Hossam El Shorbagy (ranked 41), Dipika started off slowly but came back strong to win the contest.

She lost the first at 7-11 to Sherbini but she had that fire power in her to race up to a huge lead before winning the second at 11-4 in quick time.

However, Sherbini returned the compliment in the third (11-8) but the never say die attitude of Dipika helped her to stay put in the game.

Results of other matches:
Bronze medal play-off:
[2] ENGLAND bt [3] FRANCE 2-0 (Charles Sharpes bt Lucas Serme 14-12, 7-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-5, Emily Whitlock bt Cyrielle Peltier 11-5, 11-7, 11-7, Declan James v Geoffrey Demont (match withdrawn),
5th place play-off: [6] HONG KONG CHINA bt [5] AUSTRALIA 2-0 (Yeung Ho Wai bt Jamie McErvale 4-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-5, Tong Tsz-Wing bt Sarah Cardwell 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5, 14-12, Cheuk Yan Tang v Walter Koteka (match withdrawn)
7th place play-off: [7] MALAYSIA bt [8] GERMANY 2-1 (Affeeq Abedeen Ismail lost to Rudi Rohrmuller 7-11, 3-11, 7-11, Rachel Arnold bt Franziska Hennes 11-13, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7 and Sanjay Singh bt Valentin Rapp 11-4, 11-3, 11-2.