Ahmedabad: Home favourite Achanta Sharath Kamal was ousted in the first stage of the 30th Table Tennis Asian Cup at the TransStadia here on Friday. The 35-year-old played three round robin group matches on the day but failed to win a single one.
Starting his campaign against world no. 12 Lee Sangsu of South Korea, Sharath was outplayed 0-3 (5-11, 11-9, 11-9) in 25 minutes before going down to Lin Gaoyuan of China by the same margin. The world no. 29 won 11-1, 11-6, 11-3 in Group C.
Up against world no. 8 Jun Mizutani of Japan, Sharath surrendered 1-3 (5-11, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11).
Meanwhile, Manika Batra kept home hopes alive winning all her three round robin group matches to top her continental group. Qualifying for the event through regional quota, the Delhi girl faces a play-off against Japan’s Miu Hirano for a place in the quarters.
Manika shook off early troubles to beat Qatar’s Aia Mohamed 3-0 (13-11, 11-8, 11-7) in Group D. A slow start saw the players cautious in their approach with leads changing hands regularly. After deuce, Manika missed one game point but won it on the second. From there, she never looked back as the former national champion took the next two games easily. Manika made it two out of two after defeating Iran’s Neda Shahsavari 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-6). In the third match, she upset Thailand’s world no. 58 Sawettabut Suthasini 3-2 (11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8).
The third Indian in the tournament Harmeet Desai also failed to progress to the next stage.
It was smooth sailing for seeds. Men’s top seed and world no. 2 Fan Zhendong of China was joined by Taipei’s Chen Chien-An (world no. 45) in the quarters. The top three, China’s Zhu Yuling and Liu Shiwen, alongside Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa, maintained unbeaten records in the women’s section.
