Mumbai’s Mudit Dani continued his good run on the world stage, winning the Under-23 title in the prestigious 2017 Butterfly Badger Open in the United States late on Sunday night.
Mudit Dani
Playing in a highly competitive field in the $16,000 prize money tournament, India’s rising table tennis player Mudit beat Polish-born Wojciech Wolski 9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10, 11-7 in the final to clinch the title.
Fifth seeded Mudit sailed through his group, winning all his three matches in style. He beat Zbigniew Jablonski, Varun Senthilkumar and Jerry Lu in straight games to make it to the knockout stage. He overcame an early hiccup to beat Canada’s James Therriault 10-12, 11-9, 11-9, 12-10.
In the quarters, against Czech Republic’s Janusz Franeczek who had beaten No. 3 seed and highly rated player Peter Yang, he was in devastating form. He brushed him aside 11-6, 11-8, 11-7. He got the better of Lithuania’s Gediminas Mickus 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-3 in the semis to make his tryst with Wolski.
“I am happy with the way I have been playing over the last few months,” Mudit said after his title triumph. “The Badger Open was celebrating its 10th year so most of the top US players and a number of other from other countries were there. This win adds to my confidence going forward,” he added.