Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Ayhika Mukherjee were the only Indian singles players to reach the second round of the World Table Tennis Championships that began in Houston on Tuesday.
While Sathiyan defeated Yaroslav Zhmudenko of Ukraine 11-2, 11-9, 11-4, 11-3, Mukherjee beat Egypt’s Farah Abdel-Aziz 11-7, 14-16, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 in a closely fought match.
Great start to the 2021 ITTF World 🏓championships finals here in Houston🇺🇸 as I knocked out Yaroslav Zhmudenko (UKR) in straight sets in Men Singles Round of 128 today 👍
— Sathiyan Gnanasekaran OLY (@sathiyantt) November 24, 2021
Onto the next round tomorrow 💪💪
Credits : @WTTGlobal #sathiyantt #tabletennis #sports #ittfworlds2021 pic.twitter.com/x3vJQBj44Y
In mixed doubles, India’s Archana Kamath and Sharath Kamal made their way to the second round with a 11-7, 11-6, 11-6 victory against Algeria’s Katia Kessaci and Sami Kherouf.
Manika Batra was knocked out in the first round of the women’s singles competition. She lost 5-11, 13-15; 11-8, 11-4. 11-6, 4-11, 11-7 to Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi.
Sutirtha Mukherjee and Madhurika Patkar also didn’t make it to the second round.
In men’s singles, Sharath Kamal went down 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9 to Belgium’s Cedric Nuytinck, while Harmeet Desai and A Amalraj also exited in the opening round.