Indian men bow out in quarterfinals

Sharath came up with brilliant efforts to beat Wu Hao of China 3-2 when the hosts were one-match down in the Champions Division. After losing the first game 3-11 before a motley crowd, the lanky Indian clawed his way back by snatching the second game 12-10, but again lost the third one (7-11) to the Chinese. The Chennai lad then clinched the next two games 11-8, 11-9 against Hao to round off the tally.

Soumyadeep Roy suffered a 0-3 humiliation at the hands of Wang Liqin in the first encounter, while Ma Long blanked Sourav Chakraborty with an identical scoreline in the third tie. Under pressure, Sharath also failed to maintain the rhythm in his return clash against Liqin and lost 2-3 to allow the Chinese settle the issue. China then beat Hong Kong 3-1 en route to the final, where they play Japan, who beat Chinese Taipei 3-2 in semifinal, on Thursday.

Indian men will take on Singapore with an eye on seventh place finish. Women’s team event will see a summit clash between China and Singapore. China beat Korea 3-0, before Singapore defeated Hong Kong 3-2 in the semifinals.
Indian eves failed to qualify for the Champions Division.