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.

TTFI release

Sharath, Soumyajit and Sathiyan exit in round 32; Indian engagement over

New Delhi, October 1, 2015: India’s table tennis engagement in singles and doubles events at the ongoing Asian Championships at Pattaya, Thailand, came to an end as the men and women paddlers bowed out after putting up some exiting performances. Additionally, the Indians would have also gained individually with good ranking points during the course of their participation.  

Achanta Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh and G. Sathiyan had exited after reaching the round of 32 in men’s singles, while Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty could not last out beyond the round of 64.

Ghosh was the first to be sent packing when Chinese Fang Bo beat him in straight games of 11-9, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6. Sharath followed him in round 32 when he lost to Hong Kong’s Won Chun Ting 8-11, 11-5, 7-11, 5-11, 4-11 and thereafter Sathiyan as Japanese Yuya Oshima won 11-7, 11-8, 11-6, 11-13, 11-6.

In the earlier round, Ghosh beat Thailand’s Chanakam Udomsilp 4-0, Sharath downed Qatar’s Fahed Almughanne 13-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 11-4 with a bit of struggle and Sathiyan defeated Ashraf Muhamad Haiqal 4-1 (11-6,13-11,11-3,7-11,11-3) in his second encounter against the Malaysian.

However, Sanil Shetty went down 1-11, 10-12, 9-11, 9-11 to Hong Kong’s Ho Kwan Kit and South Korean Kim Minhyeok accounted for Harmeet Desai 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-2 in a tough duel in the round of 64.

Quarterfinal hopes fade

There was a glimmer of hopes for the Indian men’s doubles pair of Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai when they received a walkover from Ma Long and Zhang Jike in the pre-quarterfinals after the top Chinese pair pulled out. But in the quarter-finals, the Indian duo found it tough against the Japanese pair of Masataka Morizono and Yuya Oshima as the latter won 3-1 (11-3, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10) to stop Indian progress. They had earlier beaten the Myanmar’s Hein Zin Min and San Kyaw 11-0, 11-4, 11-9 in the first round and then defeated Saudi pair of Ali Alkhadrawi and Bu Shulaybi 12-10, 11-5, 10-12, 11-5. The Saudi juniors had reasonably well at the India Open in Indore to stop the Indians from a complete sweep of medals, just a week before the Pattaya championships.

The other Indian pair of G. Sathiyan and Sanil Shetty failed to cross the pre-quarterfinal hurdle as they could not sustain the 3-0 (11-8, 14-12, 11-3) onslaught by Japan’s Koki Niwa and Maharu Yoshimura, another top pair. Earlier, the Indian beat Turkmenistan’s Rashid Ahmedov and Denis Kuzmenko 11-0, 11-0, 11-0 and followed it up with a win over another Saudi pair of Abdulaziz Al-Abbad and Naif Al-Jadai 13-11, 11-6, 11-7 to enter the pre-quarters.

Walkover in vain

The women’s pair of Mouma Das and K. Shamini, despite getting a walkover from top Chinese pair of Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen in the round of 32, lost to the North Korean pair of Kim Song I and Ri Myong Sun 9-11, 5-11, 8-11 in the pre-quarterfinals. The Indians won their first round against the Kazakh pair of Kamila Mashanloeva and Elina Modubashova 3-0. But both Manika Batra and Ankita, who got a first-round bye and won against Indonesia’s Lilis Indriani and Nilasari Ceria Jusma 3-1 in the next, went down to the South Koreans Lee Zion and Yang Haeun 2-11, 7-11, 3-11 to bring an end to the ordeal.  

In mixed doubles, the pair of Ghosh and Mouma had reached the round of 16 but lost to Japanese Misako Wakamiya and Yuva Oshima 4-11, 11-13, 4-11 after winning their earlier rounds 3-0 against two Kazakh pairs. First they beat Azamat Ergeshov and Elina Modubashova 11-7, 11-3, 11-9 and then blanked out Denis Zholudev and Yulia Gats 11-4, 11-8, 11-9.

The pair of Sanil Shetty and Manika Batra won against Macau’s Ma Cho and Chang Hoi Wa 11-3, 11-6, 11-7 in the first round but failed against Singapore’s Yang Zi and Yu Mengyu as the latter won 11-9, 11-2, 11-5.

TTFI Press release

Indian men in contention, women bow out in singles

New Delhi, September 30, 2015: As expected, all the Indian players entered the round of 128 in men’s singles of the the Asian Table Tennis Championships at Pattaya (Thailand), which began today. But it was curtains for all the female players who bowed out of the singles, including Mouma Das and Ankita, who had survived to enter the round of 32.

Sanil Shetty, Soumyajit Ghosh, Achanta Sharath Kamal and G. Sathiyan had all made it a one-sided affair against their opponents in the round of 128, but Harmeet Desai had to overcome a tough opponent in Laos’ Thavisack Phathaphone 11-6, 11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 11-6. But in the round of 64, he will take on Korea’s Minhveok Kim.

Shetty beat Pakistan’s Asm Qureshi 11-6, 11-2, 11-7, 11-9 and will next meet Kwan Kit Ho of Hong Kong in the next round. Ghosh, who scored an easy 11-5, 11-4, 11-2, 11-2 win over Turkmenistan’s Denis Kuzmenko, will face Chanakam Udomsilp from Thailand.

Sharath, who accounted for Oman’s Said Al Qarani 11-4, 11-5, 11-3, 11-1, has his next opponent in Qatari Fahed Almughanne while G. Sathiyan, who beat Salah Al-Balooshi 11-6, 11-4, 11-5, 11-3, takes on Muhamad Ashraf Haiqal from Malaysia. Sathiyan had beaten the Malaysian comfortably at the last Commonwealth championships in New Delhi in 2013.

All over, bar the shouting

Among the women team members, Ankita Das and Mouma Das survived to enter the round of 32, but both lost to their top-ranked opponents, Japanese Mima Ito and Chinese Chen Meng, respectively. The Japanese accounted for Ankita 4-2 (15-17, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6, 10-12, 11-3) in a keen battle where the Siliguri girl gave real torrid moments to her Japanese rival. But the experienced Ito proved too good in the end.

But Chen made a mere formality against Mouma, despite the latter taking a game off her opponent, to win 11-6, 11-7, 5-11, 15-13, 11-5.

Ankita beat Iran’s Mahjobech 11-7, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 in the round o 64. Similarly, Mouma beat her first-round Vietnam opponent Thi Nga Nguyen in two extended points games, downed Iran’s Neda Shahsavari 11-4, 6-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-4, 11-5. The Iranian almost took the Indian to the brink, including winning the third game 12-10 to go 2-0 up, but Mouma’s experience came in the way.

In contrast to the two, Manika Batra, K. Shamini and Pooja Sahasrabudhe all exited in the round of 64 despite posting comfortable triumphs over their first-round opponents in the round of 128.

After beating Shamin Minara of Bangladesh in straight games in the first round, Manika found the going against Thailand’s Tamolwan Khetkhuan. But the Indian fought really well and kept her hopes alive until the fifth game to lead 3-2 However, the Thai girl fought taking the match to a full distance and winning it 5-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9.

But for Manika’s encounter in the round of 64, both Pooja and Shamini surrendered meekly to better opponents in Thailand’s Orawan Paranang and Japanese Saki Tashiro, respectively. Shamini won 4-0 against Sisangvan Pimmayoun of Laos but went down to Saki by a similar score (11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4). Pooja, who beat Kazakhstan’s Gulchekhra Khusseinova 11-8, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, lost to Orawan 2-11, 6-11, 5-11, 8-11 to bow out of contest in the women’s singles event.

TTFI Press release

Indian men finish eighth, behind Iran

New Delhi, September 29, 2015: Iran, exacting revenge for their loss in the first division final, beat India 3-2 to finish ahead in the 7-8 position team match of the champion division in the Asian Table Tennis Championships at Pattaya (Thailand) today.

The Indians, one hoped, would beat Iran after having tasted a hard-earned success against them yesterday morning. But in the position match, Iran turned out to be more precise and had come with a right attitude as compared to the Indians.

Noshad Alamiyan began on a right note against G. Sathiyan, despite the latter having an upper hand having taken a comfortable 2-0 lead. But when the Iranian won the extended third game at 12-10, Sathiyan’s shoulders started drooping. With momentum going his way, Noshad made it 2-2 to take the issue to the decider which he won after three deuces for 6-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7, 14-12 verdict.

With everyone looking up to Soumyajit Ghosh for a revival, the national champion easily beat Nima Alamian 11-6, 11-6, 12-14, 11-5. The next man, Sanil Shetty, had it all messed up against Afsin Noroozi when he was down 1-2 after winning the first game. The Indian left-hander did his best and came back to win the fourth only to let it in the next, losing by the minimal point. The Iranian won 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9.

It was a crucial win for Iran as Afsin was the weakest of the three players.

Again Ghosh brought India on par when he won a tough battle against Noshad 12-10, 11-13, 11-3, 7-11, 11-8, but Sathiyan failed to counter Nima in his reverse singles and lost badly (7-11, 12-10, 5-11, 6-11).

From tomorrow, the individual events begin with all Indian men’s players receiving first-round byes. However, the Indian women will straightaway engage themselves with first-round matches.

TTFI Press release

India emerge First Division winners, but lose to Singapore in Champion Division

New Delhi, September 28, 2015: India’s men team, despite emerging first division winners, failed to overcome a tough Singapore, losing 1-3 in positions 5-6 matches of the champion division in the Asian Table Tennis Championships at Pattaya (Thailand) today.

They will now run into Iran, a second time in two days, when they play them in the match for position 7-8 tomorrow, which is also the day when team events conclude. Iran, too, lost to Hong Kong 1-3 in the 5-6 position matches.

In the morning, the Indian paddlers had blanked out Iran 3-0, keeping their top billing justified in the first division. They could not, however, sustain the pace and guile of the Singaporeans in the champion division.

Harmeet Desai started the proceedings and went down 9-11, 7-11, 7-11 to Yang Zi and then Soumyajit Ghosh followed suit when Gao Ning him 13-11, 11-4, 11-4, a little resistance coming from the Indian only in the first game.

 Left-handed Sanil Shetty proved to be the saving grace when he overcame Chew Zhe Yu Clarence in four games of 5-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8, the only weak-link in Singapore’s armoury. After that Gao accounted for Desai, with some struggle, 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, to put the issue beyond India.

Now it is imperative for the men’s team to grab the respectable seventh spot when they take on Iran tomorrow. Hopefully, they should be able to repeat what they did this morning in the first division final, when G. Sathiyan beat Nima Alamian 11-1, 11-4, 11-6 before Soumyajit Ghosh, who beat Noshad Alamiyan 9-11, 11-3, 12-10, 11-6 , though with some struggle, to give India a 2-0 lead. Harmeet Desai, who showed some good form here, defeated Afshin Noroozi 12-10, 11-6, 11-4 to emerge winners.

Women finish ninth

The women’s team, after failing to make it to the champion division yesterday, made amends today and beat the Philippines 3-2 in a tough battle in position 9-10 encounter. Manika Batra sent a strong signal by beating Sendrina Balatbat in the opening singles 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, but K. Shamini lost the singles battle to Ian Lariba 8-11, 13-11, 7-11, 11-4, 8-11. Pooja Sahasrabudhe revived Indian hopes with 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 win over Rose Jean Fadol. However, the issue was taken to the decider when Ian Lariba overpowered Manika 13-11, 14-12, 10-12, 11-8. Nevertheless, Shamini sealed the issue with an easy 11-1, 11-5, 11-8 verdict over Sendrina.

Liberal singles byes

After the conclusion of team finals and position matches, the tough battle for singles crowns will resume from Wednesday. The singles draw in men’s section is of 256 with liberal byes, the beneficiaries include form Ma Long to Xu Xin to the five Indians. In other words, they don’t appear on the scene until the draw is reduced 128 players. The real action begins from there on when all top guns start firing.

But the women paddlers straightaway begin their individual matches from the day after as the draw of 128 players and the five Indians—Mouma Das, Ankita Das, K. Shamni, Pooja Saharasbudhe and Manika Batra—join the action from round one. Only 16 byes have been accorded which, naturally, have gone to the players of high-perch from China, Japan, the two Koreas, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taipei. The two top-seeds Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen, in that order, occupy the top and bottom halves of the draw.

Coming back to the Indians, they have been drawn easy first round opponents as Manika will play Sarmin Minara of Bangladesh, Ankita Das will clash with Anastassiya Lavrova from Kazakhstan, Mouma Das will meet Thi Nga Nguyen from Vietnam, K. Shamini will face Sisangvan Pimmayoun from Laos and Pooja Sahasrabuddhe will encounter Gulchekhra Khusseinova from Kazakhstan.

TTFI Press release

Indian men bow to Chinese supremacy in quarterfinals

New Delhi, September 27, 2015: In a rare feat, India’s men paddlers posted a 3-2 come-from-behind win over hosts Thailand to enter the champion division of the Asian Table Tennis Championships, only to lose to top-seed Chinese 3-0 in the quarterfinals at Pattaya (Thailand) today.

Now the Indians will have to meet Singapore next in 5-8 position matchestomorrow while Iran, who lost 0-3 to Japan in the quarters, will play Hong Kong. The winners of the two matches play 5-6 positions and losers’ 7-8 ties. Iran had posted a 3-2 win over North Korea in first division.

After all their hard work in the first division, it was a huge task against the champion side China that has the Olympic and world champions in their ranks and the Indians went down without a whimper. Xu Zin beat Harmeet Desai 11-9, 11-9, 11-3, Zhang Jike outsmarted G. Sathiyan 11-5, 11-3, 11-4 and Fan Zhendong accounted for Soumyajit Ghosh 11-6, 11-7, 11-8.

In the morning, the Indian men comfortably beat Uzbekistan 3-0 with Harmeet Desai beating Zokhid Kenjaev 3-0, Soumyajit Ghosh accounting for Elmurod Holikov 3-0 and G. Sathiyan following it up with straight games win over Gennadiy Levchenko.

But they had a major hurdle in Thailand with the entire crowd backing and as it turned out, both Gosh and Sharath Kamal, who was playing his first match in five months, started on a dreadful note possible, giving no hope to India.

Padasak Tanviriyavechakul began on a whirlwind fashion against Ghosh winning the first two games before Ghosh won the third. But a fluent Padasak was way ahead of the Indian as the former won 11-6, 1-9, 8-11, 11-4. All the pressure was on Sharath, the top-ranked Indian in the world at No. 52, who next took on Pattaratom Passara. It was a struggle for supremacy as Sharath won one and lost one as at the end of the fourth game it was 2-2. In the decider, Passara utilized the chances well and won 7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7.

From a no-win situation, Harmeet Desai brought India back in the match when he beat Chanakam Udomsilp 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9. This gave a flicker of hope as Sharath downed the top Thai player, Padasak in extended points game of 13-11, 12-10, 10-12, 14-12. Then it was left to Ghosh to take their No. 2 player, Passara. And the national champion won the decider 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, particularly the last game with a lot to spare.

But India’s women team was not as lucky as they went down to hosts in the semifinals 3-0 and will now play the 9-10 position match tomorrow against the Philippines, who lost to North Korea 0-3.

Earlier in the morning, Nanthana Komwong gave Thailand the perfect start by beating Mouma Das (11-9, 11-4, 13-11), she was followed by Suthasini Sawettabut who accounted for Manika Batra (10-12, 12-10, 14-12, 11-5), before Orawan Paranang brought matters to a conclusion by overcoming Ankita Das (11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7). 

TTFI Press release

Indian men TT team qualifies for Stage 2

New Delhi, September 26, 2015: Following the footsteps of the women’s team, the Indian men’s squad entered the second stage of the Asian Table Tennis Championships at Pattaya (Thailand) here today.

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

Indian women table tennis team just a win away form Champion Division qualification

New Delhi, September 26, 2015: The Indian team, comprising Mouma Das, Ankita Das, K. Shamini, Pooja Sahasrabudhe and Manika Batra, kept a clean slate in the women’s team first stage and topped Group B of the Asian Table Tennis Championships at Pattaya (Thailand) here today.

They are just one win away from qualifying for the Champion Division as both India and the Philippines have been given quarterfinal byes in stage 2. A win in the semifinals will ensure them a place in the Champion Division where they will get to rub shoulders with the top continental teams.

The Indians play the winners of quarterfinals between hosts Thailand and Vietnam while the Philippines will take on the winners of Iran and North Korea. The semifinals are slated for tomorrow morning. The rest of the teams will play to decide positions.

With just one team from each of the six groups advancing to the knockout phase, it was imperative for the Indian paddlers to top the group. And they did exactly that, beating first Pakistan 3-0, followed by a similar win over Nepal and, finally, Qatar to log six points on the table.

In the first group match against Pakistan, inform Manika Das beat Shabnam Bilal 11-5, 11-6, 11-3, Mouma Das accounted for Raila Kashif and Ankita Das 11-3, 11-1, 12-10 before Ankita Das defeating Aisha Ansari 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, all wins coming in just an hour.

In the second group match against Nepal, there was no difference in the pattern of victory except the fact that K. Shamini and Pooja Sahasrabudhe replacing Manika and Ankita. Mouma opened against Swechchha Nembang with a 11-5, 11-5, 11-1 win, then K. Shamini beat Rabina Maharjan 11-2, 11-2, 11-6 and Pooja Sahasrabudhe downed Selisha Khadgi 11-5, 11-6, 11-3. In fact, this victory came in a much quicker time.

With a cushion of four points from two wins, the Indian women now needed to beat Qatar. With just two changes in team combination—Anita for Mouma and Manika for Pooja—the Indians achieved their goal as Ankita in the first singles beat Maha Faramarzi 11-3, 11-4, 11-2, Shamini defeated Noora Al-Abri 11-5, 11-3, 11-8 and Manika cleaned up Kholoud Hussain 11-5, 11-4, 11-1.

“But the task in stage two will not be as easy, but I am confident of a good show by our girls,” said Coach Bhawani Mukherjee. “Hopefully we post good wins in the next stage,” he added.

The Indian men paddlers are in Group A and are clubbed with the Philippines and Qatar. The men’s team has earned this position, following their performance in the previous championships held at Macau.

A TTFI Press release    

10-member Indian TT squad leaves for Asian Championships

New Delhi, September 25, 2015: A 10-member Indian squad, comprising five men and five women and led by Achanta Sharath Kamal, left for Thailand, to participate in the Asian Table Tennis Championships, to be held at Pattaya from September 26 to October 3.

The other men’s team members, besides Sharath, are national champion Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty and G. Sathiyan while Mouma Das, Ankita Das, Pooja Sahasrabudhe, K. Shamini and Manika Batra form the women’s team.

The team, accompanied by coaches Bhawani Mukherjee and Arup Basak, left today afternoon.

Prior to their departure, all team members were at a 21-day camp at Patiala, preparing for the most important continental championships as, for the first time, the International Table Tennis Federation has accorded to it a proper qualification-event status for the World Championships, to be held in Malaysia in February 2016.

On the eve of their departure, Sharath said it was very important for us to make most of the event. “This will be my first competitive event since I got injured during the World Championships in China early this year. I had been working out physically without indulging in hardcore practice. At the camp, I felt the flow was nice and coming good. I hope I return to my original form,” said the highest world raked Indian at No. 52. Sharath had held the career-best world ranking at No. 27 when he pulled out of the pre-quarterfinals at the Shuzu world meet due to side strain in April this year.

The coaches and the team members, too, felt happy to see the return of the most experienced player to the squad. “His presence will add an aura to the side and hopefully the Indians will perform well,” said the coaches.

The Indians had entered the quarterfinals of the teams events at Macau in the previous edition.

TTFI Press release