World team table tennis c’ships: India men lose to Korea in pre-quarterfinals

Harmeet Desai put up a fight against Jang Woojin in the first rubber and the first two games were quite close.

India’s Harmeet Desai in action. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Indian men followed their women counterparts, losing in the pre-quarterfinals of the World team table tennis championships in Busan on Wednesday, to third seeded Korea 3-0. With the defeat, the chances of making it the Paris Olympics appears extremely tough.

Harmeet Desai put up a fight against Jang Woojin in the first rubber and the first two games were quite close. In fact, the Indian ranked 67 in the world, had two game points at 10-9 and 11-10 in the second but couldn’t convert them. For a player ranked 14 in the world, Jang took those chances and in the third game, was ruthless in attack, winning it 11-7.

Sharath Kamal was no match to Lim Jonghoon as the Korean won the tie in four games. Sathiyan lost pretty tamely to Lee Sang Su, ranked 27 in the world in the third tie.

The Indian had his chances against Su as the former took an 8-4 lead in the second game. But Su won the next seven points with attack being the watchword.

The results:

Men (pre-quarterfinals): Korea Republic bt India 3-0 (Jang Woojin bt Harmeet Desai 12-10, 13-11, 11-7; Lim Jonghoon bt Sharth Kamal 11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 11-4; Lee Sang Su bt G. Sathiyan 11-5, 11-8, 11-2).