A Sharath Kamal loses at World TT Championships

Sharath-Kamal
Indian challenge ends at World TT Championships. Image Source: twitter

Internet Desk: India’s Achanta Sharath Kamal lost to China’s Lin Gaoyuan in the opening round at the World Table Tennis Championship on Friday.

Gaoyuan beat Kamal by 11-13, 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4 in a late round of 32 matches.

The 36-year old averted early threats to win the first game on his second game point and give himself and the nation a ray of hope.

However, no sooner did Sharath get close to his aim did Gaoyuan rise to a 2-1 lead before dropping his second game. Gaoyuan is at present ranked 40 in the world and seeded 33.

However, the Chinese steadied his game and did provide any chancesfor the Indian, ranked 54, to exploit any further.

Sharath admittedly was clearly displeased.

“When I made it 2-2, I thought I had a chance. But some mistakes on my part proved costly. Lin didn’t let me play my game in the latter part, he was too good,” said the Indian.

Two years ago, at the Suzhou world championships, Sharath was in a great form before pulling out at the same stage soon after a hip injury.

However, the best to come out of the ongoing world championships was the performance of Manika Batra and Mouma Das who had entered the quarterfinals before bowing out to the Chinese duo of Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen yesterday.