India’s rising table tennis star Sathiyan Gnanasekaran’s run at the Hong Kong Open, an ITTF World Tour event, came to a halt in the round of 32 on Thursday after a straight-games defeat against Germany’s Ruwen Filus.
Having won both his matches on Wednesday to enter the men’s singles main draw, the only Indian to make it this far, Sathiyan lost 8-11, 10-12, 10-12, 7-11 against world No 21 and eighth seed Filus to bring an end to India’s campaign.
Unseeded at the tournament, Sathiyan had previously defeated Yujia Zhai (Denmark) in the second round of the qualification stages. He then overcame Austria’s Robert Gardos in the final preliminary rounds. Filus proved to be one challenge too far.
Sanil Shetty and Harmeet Desai, who made it to the main draw of the doubles category, lost in the opening round (last 16) against Patrick Franzsiska and Jonathan Groth, 5-11, 9-11, 11-9, 3-11.
Correction: The article originally said Sathiyan lost in the round of 16, while it was the round of 32. It has now been corrected.
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