The Indian team, consisting of Achanta Sharath Kamal,
Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty and G. Sathiyan, did their primary
job of winning both their group matches against Philippines
and Qatar
to take the top perch in Group A.
Though the match against the Philippines
was easy but the Indians had to really put up a good fight to beat Qatar
3-2 as that was the only way they could have entered Stage 2.
It was a tough opening for India
as Harmeet Desai went down 13-11, 11-13, 4-11, 3-11, but Ghosh beat Abdulrahman
Al-Naggar 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 to keep India in hunt. And then Sathiyan
played brilliantly to beat Ahmad Al Mohannadi 11-4, 9-11, 11-9, 11-2 to put India in lead.
Surprisingly, however, Ghosh went down in straight sets to Li Ping 6-11, 7-11,
8-11 to take the match to the decider. This time Harmeet Desai made amends
against Abdulrahman in a tough battle to win 14-12, 11-13, 11-8, 13-11. He had
to play three extended points game to overcome the Qatari.
Placed in the top half of the draw, the top-ranked Indian
men will play their quarterfinals against Uzbekistan . In the semifinal they
could run into either hosts Thailand
or Malaysia ,
assuming they beat the Uzbeks. In the bottom half, North
Korea will play Vietnam
while No. 2 ranked team, Iran
take on Kazakhstan .
Only two teams from stage 2 go to the Champion Division.
TTFI Press release
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