Kazakhstan International Open: Hyd-based Table Tennis star Fidel Snehit wins silver, bronze

Snehit, who is the world's number 405, defeated world number 136 Pavel Platonov of Bulgaria in semi-finals 4-1 and world number 182 Ali Al Khadrawi of Saudi Arabia 4-2 in quarter-finals to storm into his first-ever finals in the men's category.

He lost to the world number 46 Kiril Gerassimenko of Kazakhstan 1-4 in the finals.

Snehit partnered with Sudhanshu Grover in the doubles. The pair lost to Kazakhstan's Kiril Gerassimenko-Alan Kurmangaliyev 2-3 in the semi-finals. They had to be content with a bronze medal.

After winning the title at Jordan Open in the junior's category in 2017, Snehit played the finals in the men's category.

A student of Somnath Ghosh MLR UTT Academy, Snehit thanked his coaches and trainer for achieving this feat. "Winning two international medals in a tournament by beating better-ranked players is something to cheer about. I could maintain consistency in this tournament. I am sure that I can come up with good performances by making amendments in certain areas of the game. I thank my coach, Somnath Ghosh and physical fitness trainer Hirak Bagchi and the Academy founder Amarnath Reddy for their wonderful support," he said

Coach Somnath Ghosh, who is in Doha with another international player Akula Sreeja, congratulated Somnath for winning the silver. "Congratulations Snehit. What a performance! Your hard work has already started paying you back. You are making all of us proud. Great achievement. Hard luck with your final match. No problem, cheer up!" he said.