This was the second occasion that the Indians have made it
to the quarterfinals of the Champions Division of the Asian event where they
are drawn to meet Japan. Before they do so, they will first clash with DPR
Korea in the final of the first division.
Sharath Kamal’s form was crucial on the day for the Indians
as he was the one who got the team across the line. Despite Thai Padasak
Tanviriyavechakul providing a rousing start beating G Sathiyan in the opening
rubber 11-9, 11-6, 14-12, the match turned on its head when Sharath entered the
arena, calming down the nerves of the Indian bench with straight games triumph
of 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 against Supanut Wisutmaythangkoon.
Sharath soon after returned to make sure that the Indians
were not denied a place in the main draw when he defeated Padasak 11-7, 11-6,
11-4, despite the Thai being very strong on his forehands. The tall India was at
his best in the crucial rubber and reeled off winners after winners with his
backhand working well.
“In the first match against Supanut I was down 3-8, but came
back to win 11-9. That gave me the confidence against Padasak. I never let him
play to his strength, his fierce forehands,” said Sharath after leading India to
victory.
In between, an aggressive Harmeet Desai consolidated the
position with a 3-1 (15-13, 14-16, 11-8, 11-5) hard-fought victory over
Pattaratom Passara, who is a strong backhand player. “I was down 5-9 but the
win in the first game was crucial. Thereafter, I was able to build my game as
the match progressed and kept varying my service and hitting wide of his
forehand,” said Harmeet.
In the first stage, Indian men drawn with Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan toyed with both teams in
group B to win against them 3-0.
But the women team could not progress beyond the semifinals
of the first division as they went down to Chinese Taipei 1-3. This means the
Indian women will now have to play their positions 9-12 matches.
Earlier, in the quarterfinals they beat Kazakhstan 3-0
as Manika Batra, Mouma Das and Suthirtha Mukherjee making a mockery of their
opponents with easy wins. But against Taipei ,
the going got tough as Mouma, despite putting up a brave show against Cheng
I-Ching with a 2-1 lead, lost 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 6-11.
Even Manika, who led 2-0 against Chen Szu-Yu, failed to
sustain the pace of her Taipei
rival and lost 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 3-11, 6-11. The only saving grace was national
champion Madhurika Patkar who defeated the higher-ranked Cheng Hsien-Tzu 11-7,
8-11, 11-4, 14-12 to restore some pride. But Manika lost her reverse single
going down 8-11, 14-12, 3-11, 9-1 to Cheng.
In the first stage, draw in in group C with Uzbekistan and Maldives the Indian women had easy
passage into the second stage as they beat their rivals 3-0 in both their
matches.
They will now take on Malaysia
TTFI release
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