Singapore Smash: Sharath Kamal Sathiyan Gnanasekaran Crash out in First Round
Singapore, March 12 (ANI): India's challenge in the men's singles at the Singapore Smash 2023 ended in the first round after Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran suffered defeat in their respective matches at the Singapore Sports Hub on Saturday. Sharath Kamal, who has dropped down two places to be world No. 51 in the latest table tennis rankings, lost to 16-year-old Quek Izaac of Singapore 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 12-10) in a match that lasted for 28 minutes. Also Read | India vs Australia 4th Test 2023 Day 4 Live Streaming Online on Disney+ Hotstar: Get Free Live Telecast of IND vs AUS Border Gavaskar Trophy Match on TV With Time in IST.After losing the first game easily, Sharath Kamal upped the ante to lead world No. 242 Quek Izaac 6-5 in the second game. Sharath Kamal, however, was unable to handle Quek Izaac's ferocity and gave up the next six points to fall behind 2-0. The 42-year-old Indian lost the round of 64 matche in straight games despite putting in a better effort in the third game. Also Read | UPW-W vs MI-W WPL 2023 Preview: Likely Playing XIs, Key Battles, H2H and More About UP Warriorz vs Mumbai Indians, Women's Premier League Inaugural Season Match 10 at Mumbai.India's top-ranked men's player at world No. 41 Sathiyan Gnanasekaran fought hard against world No. 17 Jang Woojin of South Korea and took a 2-1 lead and one stage but eventually lost the match 3-2 (11-6,7-11, 15-17, 11-6, 11-5). He will begin his mixed doubles campaign with Manika Batra from the round of 16. Earlier, Indian table tennis players Manush Shah, Harmeet Desai, Snehit Suravajjula and Manav Thakkar failed to get past the qualifying round in singles. Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai, however, will team up for the men's doubles competition which gets underway on Sunday. The women's singles main draw matches will start on March 12. India's top women's table tennis player Manika Batra, world No. 34, will be in action. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 3:20 am