Inspired by A. Sharath Kamal’s performance, India put it across Poland 3-2 in the men’s Group D Championship Division match of the World team table tennis championships, here, on Monday. Later in the day, India was thrashed by Republic of Korea 3-0.
After his heroic performance against France, in the opening tie, where the 35-year-old Indian showed his class, defeating two World top-30 players, in a losing cause, he once again displayed his attacking prowess by notching up two wins over Pawel Fertikowski and Jakub Dyjas in the first tie of the day for India.
With the tie at the razor's edge at 2-match apiece, the fifth rubber assumed importance. Harmeet Desai overcame a stiff opposition from Fertikowski before emerging triumphant in five games.
Indian women lost to Singapore 3-0 in the Group-A Championship Division match. This was India’s third straight defeat after losing to China and Sweden.
READ: India loses to France in World Team TT championship opener
The results:
Championship Division:
Men: Group-D: India bt Poland 3-2 (Harmeet Desai lost to Jakub Dyjas 8-11, 11-7, 10-12, 13-11, 7-11; Sharath Kamal bt Pawel Fertikowski 7-11, 12-10, 14-12, 7-11, 11-6; G. Sathiyan lost to Marek Badowski 6-11, 10-12, 11-7, 9-11; Sharath bt Dyjas 7-11, 11-9, 13-11, 21-19; Harmeet bt Fertikowski 11-8, 11-7, 11-13, 14-12). India lost to Republic of Korea 3-0 (Harmeet Desai lost to Sangsu Lee 9-11, 7-11, 11-5, 9-11; A. Amalraj lost to Youngsik Jeoung 7-11, 6-11, 11-13; Sanil Shetty lost to Jonghoon Lim 8-11, 13-15, 11-9, 9-11).
Women: Group-A: India lost to Singapore 3-0 (Madhurika Patkar lost to Tianwei Feng 12-10, 12-10, 11-3; Manika Batra lost to Mengyu Yu 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 5-11, 8-11; Mouma Das lost to Ye Lin 8-11, 2-11, 5-11).
