India’s top-ranked paddler Sathiyan Gnanasekaran reached the main draw of the ITTF World Cup 2019 after beating two higher-ranked players in the preliminary group stage in Chengdu, China on Friday.
He is the only Indian in action at the season-ending tournament, for which he qualified after a sixth-place finish in the continental qualifier event.
Sathiyan topped Group D after winning both his first-stage matches. First up, he registered a brilliant fightback from 0-2 down against world No 23 Simon Gauzy. Sathiyan beat the Frenchman 4-3 (11-13, 9-11, 11-8, 14-12, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8).
After Gauzy’s win in his second match, the Indian (ranked 30 in the world), was guaranteed a place in the main draw if he he won the third tie of the group. Sathiyan then beat world No 24 Jonathan Groth 4-2 (11-3, 12-10, 7-11, 16-14, 8-11, 11-8) to make sure he will be part of the main draw featuring the top eight paddlers in the world along with qualifiers from the preliminary stage.
CONFIRMED! 📝 Main draw for the Chengdu Airlines 2019 Men's #ITTFWorldCup!
— ITTF World (@ittfworld) November 29, 2019
Who are you backing to #LiftTheCup this weekend❓ pic.twitter.com/mjwM2Sgt5p
The Indian will now face former world No 1 Timo Boll in the pre-quaterfinals. Boll, the 38-year-old star paddler from Germany, is currently ranked eighth in the world. This is the first meeting between the two players on the ITTF circuit.
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Sathiyan is making his debut appearance at the ITTF Men’s World Cup. The round of 16 matches will be played on Saturday.