India’s men paddlers had a perfect to start to their campaign in the World table tennis Team Championships as they defeated Vietnam 3-0 in the first round of the second division here.
Clubbed in group F, India took on Vietnam first in the morning and thumped its rival in quick time. Opening the attack for India, Sharath Kamal defeated Anh Tu Nguyen 11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 11-6. The Indian had a fine start but after leading 2-0, he dropped a game when Anh came back nicely. However, the experienced ace Indian shut out the challenge by winning the next game.
For Anthony Amalraj, who took on Tien Dat Le in the next rubber, it was rather easy when he quickly disposed of his opponent 12-10, 11-5, 11-6.
Later, Harmeet Desai downed Ba Tuan Anh Doan 11-5, 13-11, 2-10 in a tough contest. Despite the threat from Doan, the Indian had things under control. Both Soumyajit Ghosh and G. Sathiyan, the other members of the men’s squad, had a free day.
Fortunately, the draw is relaxed with just one match per day and the Indians will take on Turkey next, followed by Nigeria, Switzerland and Slovak Republic, in that order, on the following days.
There are 24 teams in the second division divided into four groups of six teams each. All these teams will play each other in round-robin with the top teams qualifying for the second stage of the draw.
The India’s women’s team comprising Manika Batra, Mouma Das, K.Shamini, Pooja Sahasrabudde and Madhurika Patkar is in group G where the other teams are Croatia, Nigeria, Columbia, Puerto Rico and Portugal.
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