Asian Games: Soumyajit wins while Sharath loses in table tennis

Soumyajit Ghosh

Incheon, Oct 1 (IANS)

Soumyajit Ghosh advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the men's singles table tennis event but compatriot Achanta Sharath Kamal lost his round of 32 match at the 17th Asian Games here Wednesday.

There was bad news for the doubles teams as well as the men and women were knocked out of their events.

Soumyajit won in straight sets, whipping Thavisack Phtathaphone of Laos 4-0 at the Suwon Gymnasium.

It was smooth sailing for the 117th-ranked Indian who won 11-5, 11-7, 11-5, 11-4 in just 19 minutes.

He will face North Korea's Sinhyok Pak in the pre-quarterfinals Thursday, who rallied to beat Hong Kong's Peng Tang 4-3 (13-11, 11-9, 10-12, 4-11, 11-9, 1-11, 11-7) in a closely fought contest that stretched to 52 minutes.

But Sharath Kamal -- the top ranked Indian in the world -- failed to emulate Soumyajit, going down 3-4 against Thailand's Padasak Tanviriyavechakul in a fierce battle that lasted 55 minutes.

The World No.46 took the first game 11-6 but couldn't sustain the advantage, bowing 11-6, 10-12, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 10-12, 9-11 to the Thai in a see-saw battle that could have gone either way.

But bigger disappointment came from the performances of the men and women doubles teams who were in action in the pre-quarterfinals.

In the women's section, the first team, comprising Poulomi Ghatak and Ankita Das was comprehensively beaten 0-3 by the South Korean pair of Youngsook Park and Haeun Yang.

They went down 6-11, 6-11, 3-11 in a mere 13 minutes.

And the second women's team of Madhurika Patkar and Neha Aggarwal surrendered in a similar fashion 0-3 against China's Yuling Zhu and Meng Chen, falling in 20 minutes, 2-11, 7-11, 6-11.

In the men's doubles, Sharath Kamal and Anthony Amalraj fared no better than their women counterparts.

They were outplayed 0-3 (5-11, 5-11, 4-11) by Japan's Koki Niwa and Kenta Matsudaira in only 14 minutes.

The other team of Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai was undone 1-3 against China's Xin Xu and Zhendong Fan.

They won the second game to put up some fight but eventually succumbed 5-11, 11-9, 1-11, 5-11 in 20 minutes.