Sharath, Sathiyan, Manika win opener at World Championships

The 56th ranked Indian defeated world no. 170 David Serdaroglu of Austria 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 to advance to the round of 64.

File image of Sharath Kamal. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

India’s top singles paddlers--Sharath Kamal, G. Sathiyan and Manika Batra--entered the second round of the WTT World table tennis championships in Durban here on Sunday. 

The 56th ranked Indian defeated world no. 170 David Serdaroglu of Austria 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 to advance to the round of 64.

Sathiyan beat England’s Tom Jarvis 4-3 (11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-2, 15-13, 13-11, 11-6) in another men’s singles contest to begin his campaign on a positive note.

The other Indians in the singles competition, Manika Batra scripted an easy straight-game 11-1, 11-3, 11-2, 11-5 win over Lynda Loghraibi of Algeria.  

Manush Shah and Harmeet Desai had lost their opening matches on Saturday.

Sreeja Akula had won her round of 128 clash against Nicole Arlia of Italy.

The results (first round): 

Men: Singles: Sharath Kamal bt David Serdaroglu (Aut) 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6; G. Sathiyan bt Tom Jarvis (Eng) 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 11-2, 13-15, 11-13, 11-6; doubles: Sharath & Sathiyan bt Mohamed El-Beiali & Mohamed Shouman (Egy) 11-6, 11-9, 11-6. 

Women: Singles: Manika Batra bt Lynda Loghraibi (Alg) 11-1, 11-3, 11-2, 11-5. 

Mixed doubles: Manav Thakkar & Archana Kamath bt Daniel Gonzalez w/o Melanie Diaz (Pur). 

Saturday results (first round): 

Men: Singles: Tiago Apolonia (Por) bt Harmeet Desai 11-13, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9, 15-13. 

Women: Singles: Reeth Rishya bt Hana Arapovic (Cro) 11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 14-12, 11-3, 11-8; Doubles: Sreeja Akula & Diya Chitale bt Gaia Monfardini & Nicole Arlia (Ita) 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8,11-9