Shetty, Sharath win; Ghosh bites the dust

Sanil Shetty scored a thrilling victory over World No 71 Patrick Baum in an encouraging outing for the Indian men in the World Tour India Open table tennis at the Thyagaraj sports complex on Thursday.

Shetty, ranked 265, beat the German 11-7, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8 in the men’s singles opening round. He joined Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai in the second round.

However, former national champion and two-time Olympian Soumyajit Ghosh went down fighting to World No 60 German Ricardo Walther 6-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-3, 6-11, 6-11.

World No 62 Sharath, seeded 11th, beat France's Can Akkuzu 11-5, 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 11-8.  

On the adjacent table, World No 8 Vladimir Samsonov, seeded second, crashed out in straight sets, 11-5, 12-10, 11-9, 11-4, to Japan's Asuka Sakai.

Earlier, qualifier Desai pulled off 1-4, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 7-11, 11-6 victory over World No 77 and 16th seeded Tristan Flore in the opening round.

In the women’s singles competition, India’s Mousumi Paul scripted a resounding 11-7, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 victory over country’s top seeded player Manika Batra.

There were more heartbreaks in store. The under-21 women’s singles finalist Wai Yam Soo of Hong Kong ended the run of national champion Madhurika Patkar with  9-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-4, 11-9 victory.  And Krittwika Roy undid her hard work by squandering five match points against Hong Kong’s Huajun Jiang. Jiang won 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 13-11, 8-11, 8-11, 19-17.

In the doubles, Mousumi and Krittwika went down to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Po-Hsuan and Wang Yi-Ju (4-11, 14-12, 2-11, 12-10, 10-12).

Archana Girish Kamath and Sreeja Akula went down to Sweden’s Matilda Elkholm and Hungary’s Georgina Pota 8-11, 1-11, 7-11.

In the men’s doubles, Desai and Ghosh experienced a first round defeat at the hands of Hong Kong’s Jiang Tianyi and Lam Siu Hang by a close margin 8-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-3, 13-11.
DH News Service

Important results (Indian unless mentioned): First round: Men’s singles: Sanil Shetty bt Patrick Baum (Ger) 11-7, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8; Ricardo Walther (Ger) bt Soumyajit Ghosh 11-6, 9-11, 11-5, 3-11, 11-6, 11-6; Harmeet Desai bt 16-Tristan Flore (Fra) 11-4, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 7-11, 11-6; 3-Koki Niwa (Jpn) bt Anthony Amalraj 11-4, 11-5, 15-13, 11-4; Asuka Sakai(Jpn) bt 2-Vladimir Samsonov 11-5, 12-10, 11-9, 11-4; 11-Sharath Kamal bt Can Akkuzu (Fra) 11-5, 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 11-8; Tianyi Jiang (Hkg) bt 7-Benedikt Duda (Ger) 5-11, 4-11, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-3, 11-9; 4-Yuto Muramatasu (Jpn) bt Abdel-Kader Salifou (Fra) 12-10, 11-4, 11-7, 11-5.

 Women’s Singles: 5-Huajun Jiang (Hkg) bt Krittwika Roy 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 13-11, 8-11, 8-11, 19-17; Mousumi Paul bt 10-Manika Batra (IND) 11-7, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8; Sutirtha Mukherjee bt 16-Ankita Das 11-5, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9.