Khevine Cruz from the Philippines captured the silver medal in the U-11 boys’ singles category in the World Table Tennis (WTT) Youth Contender tournament held at the Fashion Island Mall in Bangkok, Thailand over the weekend.
The 11-year-old Khevine, the younger brother of national team mainstay Kheith Rhynne Cruz, survived two tough matches to reach the championship round where he fell to Vatsal Duklan of India, 1-3 (11-5, 8-11, 10-12, 8-11).
Khevine bounced back from a two-set deficit to beat Lai Yong Ren of Malaysia, 3-2 (8-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-9) and secure his place in the Final Four. In the quarterfinal round, he outplayed Thanakrit Chompoowisat of Thailand, 3-1 (11-9, 12-14, 11-6, 11-6).
Duklan, on the other, sailed smoothly to the final, trouncing Napop Daraneerut of Thailand, 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-6), in the quarterfinal and clobbering Zhu Lyon of Singapore, 3-0 (11-3, 11-7, 11-8) in the semifinal.
Meanwhile, 15-year-old Kheith Rhynne Cruz, who saw action in the Vietnam SEA Games last May, lost to Kim Seongjin of South Korea, 1-3 (11-7, 10-12, 10-12, 6-11) in the U-19 girls’ singles quarterfinal.
She defeated Anargya Manjunath of India, 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 11-5) in the first round and prevailed over Wang Hsiao-Hsin of Chinese Taipei, 3-1 (10-12, 14-12, 11-6, 14-12) in the second round.
Kheith Rhynne also failed to get past the quarterfinal of the U-17 category, bowing to Lee Daeun of South Korea, 1-3 (11-6, 10-12, 6-11, 7-11). She stamped her class over Supamas Pankhaoyoy of Thailand, 3-1 (11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9) in the second round. (PNA)
