Germany lift team title, India finish third

Chennai, Nov 10 (UNI) Capping a fine performance, India finished third, but the Germans hogged the limelight annexing the team title in the Velammal International School First World Tennikoit Championships here today.

In the last Round Robin match, India defeated Brazil 6-0 to claim the Bronze, adding to their wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh.

India, however, lost to Germany and South Africa.

Since Brazil did not field men's team, the Indian women duo won both the singles with Rati Priya defeating H Pasquilin 56-10 and Sujita thrashing V Prekulmar 20-0 for a 4-0 lead. In the women's doubles Narayanamma and Swapna blanked Pasquilin and Pekulmar 20-0 to complete the rout.

After having swept the individual titles, the Germans proved their mettle in no uncertain terms winning all their round robin matches and capped with a victory over South Africa in the last Round Robin match 16-4 to annexe the team title also.

But for the loss in mixed doubles event, it was the strong Germans all the way. Egged on by a good crowd, Germans got off to a flier winning both the singles contests in the men's and women's section and led 8-0.

South Africa showed signs of a recovery winning the two mixed doubles contest and reduced the leeway to 8-4.

But the German men's doubles pair staved off a stiff challenge to win the two matches. Spechier and Scrubardt defeated Lith and Tonder 50-38, before Hufnagel and Herog kept their nerves in crucial junctures to pull off a fascinating 42-41 win over the South Arrican duo of Craig and Le Roux.

The contest drew the crowd to the feet as Craig pulled off some stunning catches and had good control at the net. The lead changed hands frequently, before Hufnagel came up with a superb drop to settle the issue and help Germany stretch the lead to 12-4.

With the victory a foregone conclusion, the women's doubles team rounded off in style winning both the contests to complete a 16-4 win.

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