India’s doubles pair of G Sathiyan and A Sharath Kamal entered the quarter-finals beating Mahfoodh Sayed Murtadha and Rashed Rashed of Bahrain 11-8, 11-6, 11-3 in the 24th ITTF Asian Table Tennis Championships, at Yogyakarta on Thursday.
The Indian duo will take on Chinese pair of Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan in the quarter-finals. Earlier, after receiving first-round bye, the Indians had accounted for Jordan’s Abo Yaman Zaid and Aldmaizy Zeyad 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 in the round of 32.
But the other pair of Harmeet Desai and Anthony Amalraj, after enjoying bye in the round of 64, fell to the accomplished Chinese Taipei pair of Liu Hsing-Yin and Peng Wang Wei in the next round in what was a tough fight. Desai and Amalraj 11-5, 7-11, 11-3, 8-11, 6-11.
So was the case with both the Indian women pairs. Manika Batra and Archana Kamath had an easy Round of 64 outing beating the Kazakhstan’s Lavnova Anastassiya and Khusseinova Gulchekhra 3-0 before bowing out in the next round to Koreans Yang Haeun and Jeon Jhee 6-11, 9-11, 7-11.
Similarly, Madhurika Patkar and Sutirtha Mukherjee lost to Doo Hoi Kem and Lee Ho Ching of Hong Kong 9-11, 5-11, 11-13 after clearing the round of 64 hurdle against Macau’s Tao Chong and Lei Wai Mei 3-0.
In the mixed team event, Sharath-Manika as well as Sathiyan-Archana survived the first round but lost in the round of 32. Koreans Lee Sangsu and Jeo Jhiee accounted for Sharath and Manika 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 while Chinese Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha beat Sathiyan and Archana 11-7, 11-9, 13-11.
In men singles, Sharath, Sathiyan, Amalraj, Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar had all received first-round byes and registered 3-0 wins over their rivals in the round of 128. Only Desai dropped a game against Panagitgun Yanapang of Thailand before overcoming him 11-9, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5. All of them play their round of 64 later in the evening.
In women singles, Archana enjoyed the random bye in the round of 128 while others had to play their first round matches to enter the round of 64.
