Indian paddlers G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai win for their teams in European leagues

Indian table tennis stars Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai clinched victoriesfor their teams in the Polish Superliga and French Pro B League, respectively.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, who plays for the Polish Superliga team Sokolow S.A. Jaroslaw, won his second match in a row, helping his side to a win over Olimpia-Unia. Sathiyan had earlier won his debut clash for Jaroslaw when they took on AZS AWFiS Balta Gdansk.

Sathiyan faced off against Russian player Maxim Chaplygin in the first singles match of the Round 9 tie of the Polish Superliga. He was immediately put under pressure by the World No. 337 Chaplygin who won two games 11-9 and 11-6 to take the upper hand in the match.

However, Sathiyan was up for the challenge and took the third game 11-8. He then forced the decider game after restoring parity by winning the fourth game by an 11-8 score. He completed an incredible comeback when he held his own in the crucial fifth game and won 11-9 to close out the match for his team.

Sathiyan's teammates Lei Kou and Chmiel Pawel won their respective matches in the tie as Sokolow S.A. Jaroslaw won 3-0 over Olimpia-Unia. Sokolow S.A. Jaroslaw will play their next match on October 23.

Harmeet Desai starts with two wins in his French Pro B League debut

Harmeet Desai won his debut clash for Roanne L.L.T.T.

Fellow Indian paddler Harmeet Desai, who is representing French Pro B League team Roanne L.L.T.T, returned to competitive table tennis action with a couple of wins.

Harmeet Desai was up against Isseenne E.P’s Alexis Douin in the first match of the tie and won comfortably with a straight-games victory by a scoreline of 12-10,11-8,11-8 to grabthe advantage for Roanne early on in the tie. He faced some fight from Douin in the first game of the match but held him off and closed out the match with two comfortable game wins.

Roanne won the next match of the tie as Ibrahima Diaw defeated Marcos Madrid to make it 2-0 but Iseenne E.P.'s Remi Menand won against Martin Allegro to make to claw back to 2-1 in the tie.

Harmeet Desai faced off against Marcos Madrid in the fourth and deciding match of the tie and started off on a poor note, losing the first game 3-11. He leveled the score winning the second game 11-6 but the momentum was shifting constantly as Madrid won 11-3 to make it 2-1 in the match.

However, Harmeet Desai did well to hold off the challenge and clinched the final two games 11-8 to clinch the match and the tie for his team to get off to a winning start in the French Pro B League.