Young Indian paddler Mudit Dani assured his first International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) senior medal after he stormed into men’s doubles semifinals of the ongoing US Open Championships being held in Fort Worth Convention Center in Texas with his Canadian partner Marko Medjugorac.
The Indo-Canadian pair had to fight hard as they faced a stiff resilience from USA pair of Tian Ye and Si Zhigao. However, Mudit- Medjugorac overcame the USA pair 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9 to register an overall 4:2 victory and advance into the semifinals of the competition. The Indo-Canadian pair will have a tough task at hand as they will lock horns with Japan’s Hiromitsu Kasahara and Fujimura Tomoya who are also nick named as giant-killers. 
The Japanese pair booked a place in the semi-finals by overcoming second-seeded pair of Kou Lei and Zheng Pu 4-0.
The pair of Muidit- Medjugorac has had an impressive tournament so far. The pair defeated USA’s Tianrui Zhang and Wang Zhe 3-1 in the opening encounter. Mudit and Medjugorac overcame a stiff challenge from their opponents to record a 17-15, 11-4, 10-12, 11-6 win.
They followed their performance with a victory over Puerto Rican Birriel brothers, Oscar and Ruben in the quarter finals. The Indo-Canadian pair at one point of the match had lost a game and were trailing. However, they showed a lot of grit and made a splendid comeback to complete a 3-1 (11-6, 11-5, 10-12, 11-8) victory.
After his quarterfinal victory Mudit talked about his first ITTF medal and said, “It’s even more special to win it (first ITTF senior medal) at such a prestigious event like the US Open. Our confidence is at a higher level after performing well in the earlier rounds. I am sure it will help us tomorrow in the semi-finals against the Japanese pair. I would like to thank MP Singh and TTFI for their support.”
