Indian table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran was knocked out of the 2nd round of table tennis singles at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday

Xtra Time Web Desk: Indian table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran was knocked out of the 2nd round of table tennis singles at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday. The world No 26 ranked Indian TT player failed to capitalize the 3-1 lead against a low ranked (No 97) opponent from Hong Kong. Sathiyan had got a bye in first round. Ironically, Sathiyan had got the better of Lam on 2 occasions earlier.

The first game was tight but the Hong Kong player pulled away from 6-6 with his forehand at work.

Sathiyan switched gears after the opening game with ease. He not only put up a stout defence but levelled the match when Lam hit a return out on a ferocious forehand.

Sathiyan raced to a 5-1 lead in the third game in a dominating fashion and kept going strong as Lam's game fell apart and in no time and Sathiyan had a 2-1 lead in his pocket.

The Indian was now even hitting his backhand flicks for winners while Lam's errors kept mounting.

But there was a twist in the tale with Lam drawing parity by taking the next two games. Sathiyan saved two game points in the sixth game to keep Lam under pressure but made an error on third game point.

In the deciding game, Lam opened up a 5-2 lead with crushing forehand winner after a time out.

Soon, Sathiyan was down 6-9. He hit a forehand out to be down by match point. Lam -sealed it when Sathiyan made a backhand error.