It was a great day for Indian table tennis fans as Indian men too reached the pre-quarterfinals of the World Team table tennis championship, despite losing the final match against France.
#77 Akula had also reached the semifinals of the Commonwealth games and also won the Gold medal in mixed doubles with veteran A. Sharath Kamal.Sathiyan too had a memorable Commonwealth Games as he clinched the bronze in the table tennis singles.
The Indian men’s team advanced to the pre-quarterfinals despite losing 0-3 to France at the World Table Tennis Championship in Chengdu, China on Tuesday.
India escaped elimination as they were one of the higher-ranked best-placed third teams in the group stages.
India opened with Manav Thakkar against Alexis Lebrun, ranked No. 30 in the world. This was the change of strategy as the usual Thakkar didn’t open earlier. However this move didn’t work and Thakkar lost by 6-11, 8-11, and 8-11 in straight games pushing Team India on the back foot.
Next up was the #37 G Sathiyan who faced Felix Lebrun in the second match. The 86th-ranked Lebrun surprised the Indian star and did the upset by defeating Sathiyan again in straight games 11-4, 11-2, 11-6.
Harmeet Desai couldn’t stand against Jules Rolland either. Despite giving the Frenchman a tough fight, Desai lost by 11-13,11-13,11-7,8-11,7-11 in a close third match. This win ensured that France would be topping the group.
India’s loss resulted in Germany taking the second spot in the group who had already beaten France 3-1.
India reached the pre-quarterfinals as Romania was standing lower than India.
It won’t be an easy road for India ahead as next up is the top seed China.Â
It is to be noted that the veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal had decided to opt out of the world team table tennis tournament.
INDIA WOMEN REACH PRE-QUARTER-FINALS TOO
Earlier Indian women too reached the quarterfinals quite comfortably by beating Egypt quite comfortably by 3-1.
Sreeja Akula opened well for the women’s team by winning the first match easily against Hana Goda with a scoreline of 11-6, 11-4, and 11-1.
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Manika Batra had to do a little harder work for her game as she defeated the opponent Dina Meshref after losing the first two games. Her final scoreline was 8-11, 11-6, 11-7, 2-11, 11-8.
Yousra Helmy did open the account for the Egyptian team by beating Diya Chitale in 5 sets 5-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4.
Akula then played her second match and won it quite comfortably with the score of 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6Â over Meshref and secured the team’s place in the last 16.
Akula and G Sathiyan have been the best players of the Indian contingent with both having won 4 of their matches.
#77 Akula had also reached the semifinals of the Commonwealth games and also won the Gold medal in mixed doubles with veteran A. Sharath Kamal.
Sathiyan too had a memorable Commonwealth Games as he clinched the bronze in the table tennis singles.
Akula: Form of her life
Three of those four wins of Akula have come against top-50 players – 14 Nina Mittelham, Hana and Dina – and she only got beaten by the 8th-ranked German Ying Han.Â
This world event has shown the Hyderbad-born Sreeja varied kinds of challenges like the very dangerous forehand of Nina, Ying’s genius defence, She also played Hana who is the youngest African Continental champion. Dina tested with her backhand. Mostly Sreeja has succeeded in giving answers to each of the tests thrown at her.
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