Sathiyan blanked by Gacina 0-3, ousted from WTT Star Contender table tennis tournament

India's second-best table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran was ousted from the WTT Star Contender 2021 in Doha after losing his men's singles Round-of-32 match to Andrej Gacina 0-3 (6-11, 6-11, 7-11) of Croatia on Thursday (September 23).

It was a tournament to forget for Sathiyan after he failed to make inroads in the men's doubles category as well. With Sathiyan's exit, only Archana Girish Kamath and Sreeja Akula remain in contention in the women's singles. The Indian women paddlers will be in action later on Thursday.

It was a difficult loss to take as Sathiyan, #39 in the world, is ranked higher than Gacina (#48).

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However, the difference in their rankings didn't seem to matter during the match. Sathiyan was blanked 0-3 as Gacina was clinical right from the word go. The Croatian table tennis player dictated terms and made sure his Indian rival did not get enough room to play his shots.

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Sathiyan loses the plot

Being pushed on the backfoot consistently also meant Sathiyan had to resort to a change from his original gameplan. However, that didn't yield good results as a plethora of unforced errors ultimately led to the Indian's loss.

Gacina started strong and raced to a quick lead, a ploy that worked wonders for him as he put Sathiyan under pressure straightaway. The need to get back into the game always seemed to play on Sathiyan's mind as he looked out of sorts with his shots going haywire.

Gacina won the first two games by an identical margin of 11-6 and raced to a quick lead in the third game as well. Sathiyan then took a time-out to try to stage a comeback and reduce the deficit but the Croatian upped the ante in style and ultimately closed the match without any hiccups.

Earlier, Sathiyan also couldn't make it count in the men's doubles. Partnered with state-mate Anthony Amalraj, the Indian pair lost 1-3 (5-11, 11-9, 5-11, 6-11) to Japanese duo Kazuhiro Yoshimura and Yuto Kizukuri.

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