Indian challenge at the World Table Tennis Contender series in Doha ended after ace paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal lost against world No 7 Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei in the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals on Thursday.
The 38-year-old Indian suffered a 6-11, 4-11, 8-11 defeat against Lin.
The world No 32 Sharath, who was playing his first international tournament after a year’s break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, could not quite gain momentum despite showing good resistance in the latter part of the match against the higher-ranked Yun-Ju.
Sharath Kamal had beaten Czech Republic’s Pavel Sirucek 17-15, 9-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9 in the men singles opening round where G Sathiyan suffered a 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 loss at the hands of world No 21 Aruna Quadri on Wednesday.
In the mixed doubles, Sathiyan and Suthirtha Mukherjee were listed as giving a walkover to their opponents.
Earlier in the tournament, Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula also lost their respective final qualifying round matches in the women’s singles category.
While Batra lost to World No. 69 Ganna Gaponova 5-11, 6-11, 14-12, 5-11, Akula, who had outclassed World No. 74 Vega Paulina of Chile in the earlier round, went down fighting 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11 to Russian opponent Mariia Tailkova.
