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Giant-killers Chinese Taipei lived up to their reputation by annexing the boys' team title while China maintained their hold in the girls' section in the 9th Asian Junior table tennis championships, at the Kotla Vijayahaskara Reddy indoor stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday.
For Korea, it was a case of sour grapes as they finished runner-up in both categories, their boys and girls' teams losing by indentical margin of 1-3 to Taipei and China respectively.
Wu Chih Chi gave a flying start to Taipei by trouncing Kim Tae Hoan with ease before Lim Jae Hyun levelled the score, defeating Chang Hung Chieh.
The spirit of breaching the Great Wall of China in the semifinals earlier played a vital role in the third singles as Huang Wei Chin fought a pitched battle against Lee Jin Kwan to win in five games.
Surviving some anxious moments, Wu Chih Chi, who sqandered away a match point in the fourth game, rallied splendidly to clinch the issue in a close 12-10 verdict.
The story line was a shade different in the girls' section, with China making up for the loss of their male counterparts to defeat a spirited Korea.
After Korea got a flying start from Jee hin Hyung in the opener, the Chinese girls did not look back and quickly settled the issue by winning the reamining three games in a row in a splendid show.
The final results:
Boys': Chinese Taipei bt Korea 3-1 (Wu Chih Chi bt Kim Tae Hoan 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8; Chang Hung Cheih lost to Lim Jae Hyun 8-11, 7-11, 3-11; Huang Wei Chin bt Lee Jin Kwan 11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 8-11, 14-12; Wu Chih Chi bt Lim Jae Hyun 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10.