Sharath's loss ends India's challenge at WTT Contender

World No 7 Lin Yun-Ju defeated Sharath Kamal 11-6, 11-4, 11-8 in the second round to end India’s campaign at the World Table Tennis Contender event in Doha on Thursday.

“I just could not get any rhythm today, and he simply outhit me in the match” was Sharath’s candid admission to Sportstar after the loss to Chinese Taipei No. 1. “The only chance I got to get close came in the third game, but he was simply superior today.”

The day also saw an injured G. Sathiyan and Sutirtha Mukherjee give a walkover to the French pair Emmanuel Lebesson and Jia Nan Yuan in the mixed doubles first round.

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Late on Wednesday, Sathiyan and Sharath lost the men’s doubles first round to the Argentine pair of Horacio Cifuentes and Gaston Alto 14-12, 11-7, 11-3.

After the match, Sathiyan said, “I just could not get my shots in because of an injured shoulder. I suffered the injury in the recent National championship final (against Sharath Kamal). I took injections and painkillers, but they did not help.”

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To recover faster for the bigger matches ahead, including the Olympic qualifiers, Sathiyan was contemplating pulling out from the men’s doubles and mixed doubles events of the WTT Star Contender, beginning on Friday.