Indian stars Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Manika Batra and Achanta Sharath Kamal progressed into the round of 64 at the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban on Sunday.
In a seven-game thriller against England’s Tom Jarvis, Sathiyan came up with a 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-2, 13-15, 11-13, 11-6 win to secure a spot in the round of 64.
While Sathiyan was made to work for his win, Sharath Kamal and Batra secured relatively easy wins in their respective matches. Sharath Kamal moved into the next round with a 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 win over Austria’s David Serdaroglu while Batra beat Algeria’s Lynda Loghraibi 11-1, 11-3, 11-2, 11–5.
Harmeet Desai and Manush Shah made it to the round of 32 in the men’s doubles event after beating Kazakhstan’s Denis Zholudev and Sagantay Kurmambayev. Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan also moved into the next round with a 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 win over Egypt’s Mohammed El-Beiali and Mohamed Shouman.
Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath joined Sathiyan and Batra in the mixed doubles round of 32 after receiving a walkover in their match.
Indian TT squad for the World Championships
Men’s singles: G Sathiyan, Achanta Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai, Manush Shah
Women’s singles: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Reeth Rishya
Men’s doubles: Achanta Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan; Manush Shah and Harmeet Desai
Women’s doubles: Manika Batra and Archana Kamath; Sreeja Akula and Diya Chitale
Mixed doubles: G Sathiyan and Manika Batra; Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath
The World Championships are being held in Durban, South Africa from May 20. Here are the details of the event.
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