Sathiyan Gnanasekaran progresses to round of 16 at Czech Open table tennis

Top seed Sathiyan Gnanasekaran moved into the men’s singles round of 16 at the ITTF Czech International Open in Olomouc, the Czech Republic on Monday.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran beat local player Tomas Koldas 4-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-6, 11-5) at the Omega Sports Center to continue his fine form after winning the mixed doubles title with Manika Batra at the WTT Contender Budapest last week. The pair became the first Indians to win a WTT title.

It was a good day overall for Indian table tennis at the ITTF Czech International Open.

Youngster Archana Kamath, seeded 10th, was pushed hard by Marketa Sevcikova but the Indian came out on top 4-3 (11-7, 11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, 12-10) to move into the women’s singles round of 16. Archana Kamath will next face Chile’s Paulina Vega.

India’s Sreeja Akula will play Sweden’s Linda Bergstrom in the women’s singles round of 16 after beating Katsiaryna Baravok of Belarus 4-0 (12-10, 12-10, 11-8, 13-11).

In the men’s singles, Manav Thakkar beat Ukraine’s Viktor Yefimov 4-1 (11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8) to move to the round of 16.

India’s Snehit Suravajjula - who came through the qualifiers - came from two games down to beat England’s Samuel Walker 4-2 (5-11, 3-11, 11-4, 12-10, 11-4, 11-8) to progress to the round of 16.

The 21-year-old Jeet Chandra got the better of Frenchman Alexandre Robinot 4-2 (13-11, 11-9, 10-12, 8-11, 11-8, 11-2) to move into the round of 16.

Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath, both former top-ranked juniors, had teamed up in the mixed doubles, where they beat Hungary’s Akos Kishegyi and Bernadett Balint 3-1 (13-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-7) to go through to the quarter-finals.

Indian pair Reeth Tennison and Sanil Shetty also moved to the mixed doubles quarter-finals after beating Belarus’ Pavel Platonov and Katsiaryna Baravok 3-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-6).

Reeth/Sanil and Jeet/Selena had come to the main draw through the qualifiers. The women’s doubles pairs of Reeth Tennison/Archana Kamath and Sreeja Akula/Selena Selvakumar also made it to the main draw qualifiers via the qualifiers.

Youngster Manush Shah was the only Indian to be knocked out in the qualifying round, losing in the men’s singles.

Indian results on Day 1 of ITTF Czech Open

Men’s Singles

G Sathiyan 4-0 Tomas Koldas (CZE)

Manav Thakkar 4-1 Viktor Yefimov (UKR)

Jeet Chandra 4-2 Alexandre Robinot (FRA)

Snehit Suravajjula 4-2 Samuel Walker (ENG)

Mudit Dani 0-4 Adam Klajber (SVK)

Sanil Shetty 2-4 Yevhen Pryshchepa (UKR)

Women’s Singles

Sreeja Akula 4-0 Katsiaryna Baravok (BLR)

Archana Kamath 4-3 Marketa Sevcikova (CZE)

Men's Doubles

Sanil Shetty/Manav Thakkar 3-1 Csaba Andras/Akos Kishegyi (HUN)

Snehit Suravajjula/Jeet Chandra 3-1 Simon Belik/Tomas Martinko (CZE)

Women’s Doubles

Archana Kamath/Reeth Tennison 0-3 Linda Bergstorm/Filippa Bergand (SWE)

Sreeja Akula/Selena Selvakumar 0-3 Valeria Shcherbatykh/Mariia Tailakova (RUS)

Mixed Doubles

Reeth Tennison/Sanil Shetty 3-0 Pavel Platonov/Katsiaryna Baravok (BLR)

Archana Kamath/Manav Thakkar 3-1 Akos Kishegyi/Bernadett Balint (HUN)

Selena Selvakumar/Jeet Chandra 1-3 Zdena Blaskova/Tomas Martinko (CZE)