Sathiyan goes down fighting in Asian Championships quarters

Earlier in the day, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran created brief history by becoming the second Indian paddler to make it to the last eight of the Asian continental event.

Sathiyan will take on World No.4 Lin Gaoyuan of China in the last eight clash later in the day.

G. Sathiyan's superb run in the ITTF-ATTU Asian table tennis championships here on Friday came to an end when he went down fighting to Lin Gaoyuan of China, the World No. 4 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8 in the men's singles quarterfinals.

RELATED| ITTF lauds Sathiyan as India's biggest table tennis star

Earlier, Sathiyan, ranked 30 in the world, made history of sorts when he beat North Korea's An Ji Song 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 in the pre-quarterfinals to become the second Indian paddler after Sudhir Phadke did it way back in 1976 to make it to the last eight of the Asian continental event.

Meanwhile, Ayhika Mukherjee's dream run ended when she lost to World No. 2 Ding Ning of China 11-5, 11-13, 11-4, 11-9 in the women's pre-quarterfinals. She had defeated Batbayar Doljinzuu of Mongolia 11-6,  11-7, 11-3 in the previous round.

On the feat, Sathiyan said: "I am extremely happy and elated to reach the quarters in the prestigious event. It has been a wonderful journey and I would really love to set the bar high for Indian table tennis...."