Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan bow out of Olympic table tennis qualifiers
The Indian TT players endured contrasting losses in the Round of 16 of the World Singles Qualification Tournament in Doha.
Indian table tennis players Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran fell short of their mark at the World Singles Qualification Tournament for the Tokyo Olympics with early-round exits on Sunday.
Turning up for their Round of 16 matches at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in Doha, Qatar, the Indian players were no match for their opponents as they lost in contrasting manners to bow out of the competition.
While Sharath Kamal went down against Niagol Stoyanov of Italy 4-2, G Sathiyan lost to another Italian, Mihai Bobocica, 4-0.
Up against 102nd ranked Stoyanov, Sharath Kamal was quick to assert his supremacy early in the match. The experienced Indian kept the rallies short and used his range well to stretch the Italian before taking the opening game 11-9.
Niagol Stoyanov bounced back. He upped his tempo in the second, matching Sharath Kamal shot for shot and used the spin on the ball to his advantage to keep his opponent guessing.
World No. 32 Sharath Kamal was drawn into a few errors which cost him dear as Niagol Stoyanov drew level.
The third game saw some drama. Niagol Stoyanov was penalised with a yellow card for time wasting and the Italian made his displeasure evident. But the 33-year-old kept his composure as took the game to eke ahead in the tie.
Niagol Stoyanov went on to take the next game and pile some serious pressure on Sharath Kamal, to which the Indian responded well by cutting the deficit to 3-2.
In the sixth game, though Sharath Kamal did well to stay in the contest and even led at 9-7, the 38-year-old Indian couldn’t close the game as Niagol Stoyanov took the win 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 12-10.
While Sharath Kamal showed some fight in his Round of 16 tie, G Sathiyan looked out of sorts against Mihai Bobocica in a lopsided contest.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran was made to pay for his poor shot selections and lack of control as Mihai Bobocica, a player ranked 86 places below him in the ITTF rankings, recorded an 11-7, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5 win to move into the quarter-finals.
Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan were the only two male Indian table tennis players competing at the World Singles Qualification Tournament.