New Delhi, June 18 (IANS) India’s top men’s paddler Sharath Kamal was the only home player to advance to the singles second round of ITTF Pro Tour table tennis tournament while his compatriots faded on the first day of the main draw competition here Friday.
Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal got the better of Ji Min Han of Korea 11-9, 11-6, 5-11, 11-8, 11-4 to enter the pre-quarterfinals at Yamuna Sports Complex.
He will face German Patrick Baum next.
Sharath Kamal also moved into the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles with Subhajit Saha, as they went past Xiaoli Cai and Zhongze Liu of Singapore 3-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-2, 11-5, 7-11, 12-10 in a tough duel.
Sharath and Saha will face compatriots Harmeet Desai and Devesh Karia, who beat German pair of Dimitrij Ovatcharov and Patrick Baum 11-6, 11-6, 11-3, 11-9.
Other Indian players in the singles competition fell by the wayside.
Avishek Ravichandran, Anirban Nandi, Amalraj Anthony, Sourav Chakraborty, Sanil Shetty and Subhajit Saha all lost their first round matches.
It was even worse in the women’s singles where even country’s top player Mouma Das fail to clear one round.
Mouma lost to Korean Jin Dal Rae 5-11, 7-11, 16-14, 3-11, 6-11.
Shamini Kumaresan, Madhurika Patkar, Pooja Sahasrabudhe and Nandita Saha, who had qualified for the main draw, also went down in the first round.
India’s campaign in the women’s doubles also ended in the round of 16 with all the contenders tasting defeat.
India results:
Men’s singles: WU Chih-Chi (TPE) beat RAVICHANDRAN Abishek (IND) 11-3,8-11,3-11,11-6,11-9,11-6; YANG Zi (SIN) beat NANDI Anirban (IND) 11-6,11-5,11-7,11-5; ACHANTA Sharath Kamal (IND) beat HAN Ji Min (KOR) 11-9,11-6,5-11,11-8,11-4; MENGEL Steffen (GER) beat SHETTY Sanil (IND) 7-11,11-5, 14-16, 5-11,11-13; HUANG Sheng-Sheng (TPE) beat SAHA Subhajit (IND) 9-11,6-11,11-5,12-10,11-9,10-12,11-3; KEINATH Thomas (SVK) beat ANTHONY ARPUTHARAJ Amalraj (IND); 12-10,11-6,11-6,11-6; GAO Ning (SIN) beat CHAKRABORTY Sourav (IND) 3-11,4-11,8-11,7-11
Women singles: YU Mengyu (SIN) beat KUMARESAN Shamini (IND) 11-3,11-5,11-6,11-2; HUANG Yi-Hua (TPE) beat PATKAR Madhurika IND 11-6,11-6,11-8,13-11; JIN Dal Rae (KOR) DAS Mouma (IND) 11-5,11-7,14-16,11-3,11-6; LI Jiao (NED) beat SAHASRABUDHE Pooja (IND) 11-4,11-4,11-6,11-5; HIRANO Sayaka (JPN) beat SAHA Nandita (IND) 4-11,2-11,5-11,7-11.
