Sharath’s efforts come to naught in Asian TT

New Delhi, April 15: A. Sharath Kamal, the last Indian in fray, bowed out in the pre-quarterfinals to end India’s campaign at the ongoing Seamaster 2017 Asian Championships at Wuxi today.

The Indian lost to Lam Siu Hang of Hong Kong 2-3 (6-11, 11-9, 9-11, 14-12, 10-12) after waging a spirited fight.

Though Sharath began on a bad note losing rather quickly his first game, the Indian made amends and came back strongly against the Hong Kong paddler, who exacted revenge in a similar fashion winning the third game with minimal points to go 2-1 up.

A more determined Sharath was attacking well on his backhand and almost cornered his opponent by saving two match matches to level the score 2-1. Rattled as he was the Hong Kong paddler kept a slender lead in the decider and in spite of Sharath managing to deuce at 10-10, Lam took the next two crucial points, one each on his own serve and once breaking Sharath’s to enter the quarterfinals.

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Sharath lone Indian to enter Asian TT singles pre-quarterfinals

New Delhi, April 14: A. Sharath Kamal was the lone Indian standing tall, having reached the men singles pre-quarterfinals at the Seamaster 2017 Asian Championships at Wuxi, China, today.

The top-ranked in Indian in the world beat Ro Kwang Jin of DPR Korea 11-5, 11-7, 14-12 in the round of 32 to move ahead. He will next meet Hong Kong’s Lam Siu Hang in the pre-quarterfinals.

As for the other Indian in fray, Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty bowed out in the round of 32. Ghossh lost to Koki Nawa (Japan) 3-11, 4-11, 5-11, Desai went down 9-11, 11-8, 10-12, 4-11 and Shetty lost in straight games of 10-12, 8-11, 6-11 to Korean Lee Sangshu. G. Sathiyan could not do much against his second round opponent and he failed to go past him.

Since the singles draw had 128 players, it was a busy day for the Indians in both sections as they began their campaign as early as at 9 a.m., playing round after round with only top eight players getting first round byes. The Indians had easy passages in the first two rounds but the third round posed problems.

However, Sharath continued his good form and defeated the North Korean who, despite putting up a brave front in the third game in which he stretched the Indian, saved three match points after the third game saw several deuces.  

Earlier, Madhurika Patkar, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, Suthirtha Mukherjee and Manika Batra all lasted just the first round and failed to go beyond the round of 64. However, veteran Mouma Das entered the third round where Taipei’s Cheng I Ching downed the Indian 11-9, 11-6, 11-6.

In doubles, too, Indians could not make much of an impression except in the women’s section, when Manika Batra and Mouma Das progressed up to the quarters. Unfortunately for them, they ran into the Chinese pair of Zhe Yuling and Chen Meng and after waging a good fight lost 7, 11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8. The men’s pairs of Sharath and Sanil Shetty and Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai bowed out in the pre-quarterfinals.

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Asian TT: Indians squander chances and a semifinal spot

New Delhi, April 11: With the two quarterfinal clashes scheduled on adjacent tables and focus entirely on Chinese youngster Zhang Jike, what took the breath of a packed hall at the Seamaster 2017 ITTF-Asian Championships in Wuxi was the men’s team contest between India and Japan.

And India, which nearly pulled of a sensational result against the Japanese, squandered chance after chance and advantage after advantage to bow out 2-3 thanks to Koki Niwa, the backbone of Japanese triumph.

After Soumyajit Ghosh had given his team a perfect start with a win over Yuya Oshima (7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6), Sharath Kamal held a total of three match points in the fourth game against Koki Niwa before losing (11-1, 6-11, 8-11, 14-12, 12-10).

The agony continued as Harmeet Desai, despite leading 2-1 and 10-all in the fourth game against Kenta Matsudaira, the Indian experienced a five-game defeat (5-11, 8-11, 11-2, 14-12, 11-6).  But Sharath returning with vengeance beat Yuya Oshima (11-8, 11-13, 11-5, 6-11, 11-6) to set an intriguing battle between Ghosh and Koki Niwa to settle the issue.

Ghosh began well but eventually lost as the verdict went in favour of Koki Niwa who won 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-4, to be the hero of the hour.

India, who subsequently, lost the 5-6 positions match against Hong Kong 0-3 will now play for the 7-8 positions tomorrow.

CONSONATION WIN

Meanwhile, the Indians had something to gain from the team championships, having beaten DPR Korea 3-2 in the first division final and for the first time ever. This came as a consolation for the Indians who had surpassed their expectations earlier, taking the Japanese to the brink.

But it was not all that easy against the North Koreans, though both Soumyajit and Harmeet had given another perfect start beating Choe Il 11-6, 11-9, 12-10 and Pak Sin Hyok 11-5, 11-13, 11-8, 6-11, 11-5 in a tough second rubber. But what followed was rather surprising as G. Sathiyan was blanked out by Kang Wi Hun who won 11-7, 11-9, 11-9 and Ghosh lost his reversingles to Pak Sin Hyok 10-12, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8 to leave the fate of India in the hands of Harmeet.

The man from Surat did not disappoint as he beat Choe Il in straight games of 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 to make some amends for his folly against the Japanese.

10-member Indian team for Asian TT named

New Delhi, April 7: A 10-member Indian team, led by national champions A. Sharath Kamal and Madhurika Patkar, will participate in the Asian Championships to be held at Wuxi (China), beginning this Sunday.

The other team members include Soumyajit Ghosh, G. Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty, Manika Batra, Suthirtha Mukherjee, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe and Mouma Das. The team members are accompanied by foreign expert Massimo Costantini and coach Arup Basak with a support staff in physiotherapist Kishore Dey. 

For the first time in recent years, the sports ministry has also sanctioned a sparring partner in defensive player Lalrin Puia who will stay the entire duration of the championships between April 9 and 16.

The team members, who are currently training at Shanghai’s National Training Centre, will leave for the championships venue at Wuxi, a three-hour drive from Chinese business capital, later today.

Except for Sarath Kamal and Ghosh, all other players had participated in the Thailand Open before arriving at Shanghai on April 4 for a short camp where they had an intense training session, according to foreign expert Massimo. “The team members are in good shape and they are bolstered by the arrival of both Sharath and Ghosh,” said Massimo before leaving for Wuxi.

For the prestigious championships, ITTF has nominated Ganeshan Neelakana Iyer, a familiar face on the Indian circuit, as the competition manager with Atul Dubey from Rajasthan as one of his deputy referees.

Two Indian umpires, K. Mahendra Singh (Manipur) and Sushanta Mazumdar (West Bengal), also have been nominated to officiate at the championships as technical officials.  Besides, C.L. Thade (Maharashtra) and Attoor Satheese (Kerala) will be at Wuxi to attend the Competition Manager course conducted by ITTF. This will help upgrade their knowledge as they prepare for bigger things in their career thanks to the encouragement from ITTF which was more competition managers from Asia, particularly India. Ganeshan is the lone competition manager available at present.

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