Three Indian players, namely Mudit Dani from Mumbai, wild card entrant Siddhesh Pande from Thane and Archana Kamat from Bangalore will feature among 3 of the world’s best junior table tennis players in the 2015 ITTF World Junior Circuit Finals, which will be played at Abhay Prashal, Indore from January 22 to 24, 2016.
Mudit Dani
The three-day event is the culmination of 30 tournaments across all six continents, from which 16 boys and 16 girls have qualified to compete in Indore. The 32 players will see more than 15 countries represented at this 3-day event.
Archana Kamat
17-year-old Mudit Dani ended the year ranked No. 27 on the ITTF Global Junior Circuit Standings and is the highest Indian boy on the circuit standings with 1476 points. During the year of 2015, Mudit participated various events such as the 2014 ITTF World Junior Circuit Finals, US Open 2015 and ITTF Junior opens in Bahrain, Tunisia, Mauritius and Jordan. Through his consistent performances he received 1 silver and 3 bronze medals in international tournaments in 2015. He qualifies as the number 14 player as there is a selection criteria of maximum of two players per national association.
15-year-old Archana Kamat From Bengaluru, with her current ITTF World U-18 Ranking of 40 is the highest world ranked Indian player and appears at No. 20 on the 2015 ITTF WJC –Girls standings of eligible players with 1624 points, following her Junior Girls Title win at the 2015 India Junior Open held at Indore in September 2015, and her Pre-Quarterfinal appearances at the 2015 Thailand Junior Open and the 2015 Croatia Junior Open. But she makes the Top 16 list as 13th player because of maximum of two players per nation selection criteria.
Thane lad Siddhesh Pande has an international ranking of 89 and has made the grade as a Wild Card. Besides being the National champion 2015-2016, Pande’s international success is a gold medal at the Indian Open 2015.
Romania’s 16-year-old Adina Diaconu is the highest ranked player among the girls, while among the boys the honour goes to Slovenia’s Darko Jorgic.