(by Steve Hopkins)
Kanak Jha has won the WTT Feeder Series event in Dusseldorf . Jha continues to log matches in his comeback as he eyes a May event that provides one of the few remaining opportunities to qualify for the Olympics.
Without a current World Ranking, Jha entered unseeded, but defeated Rassenfosse, Sareen, Shinozuka, Feng, and Kang on his path to the Final (in order that includes wins over World Nos. 124, 45, 73, 72, and 136). His Finals matchup was against the explosive Korean An Jaehyun (World No. 43).
Jaehyun is a free-swinging attacker on his forehand and more careful on the backhand. His play internationally has been inconsistent, logging big wins (defeating Harimoto and Franziska for instance), but dropping matches to players below him. For Jha, he seemed comfortable pushing the ball deep to Jaehyun’s backhand side and daring him to step around for the big forehand out of position – or otherwise to force backhand to backhand exchanges. Jha won the first game, fell behind early in each of the next two (losses), and then came from behind for the 3-2 win.
This is a big step for Jha, who was as high as No. 20 in the world before the layoff. He will be playing next month in a final qualifier for this hemisphere, and the level of competition should be similar to that on display here in Dusseldorf today. Burgos from Chile is World No. 54, Pereira in Cuba is World No. 59, Brian Afanador in Puerto Rico is World No. 75, Mino in Ecuador is World No. 85, etc. Kanak Jha (and the second US competitor Nikhil Kumar) will need to finish in the Top 4 to punch their tickets to the Olympics. Kanak’s path to Paris is a performance next month in Lima that matches his performance this week in Dusseldorf.
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*Link to the Finals (as long as it is active).