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The Singapore Smash 2024 witnessed some incredibly interesting matches take place on the fourth day of the main draw. The only Indians still in contention in the USD 1,500,000 tournament were Achanta Sharath Kamal and the women’s doubles pair of Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee.
India’s most experienced paddler, Achanta Sharath Kamal, displayed his mastery by causing an upset and securing a remarkable victory over Darko Jorgic. On tha other hand, the duo of Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee was beaten by the Romanian-Spanish pair of Adina Diaconu and Maria Xiao in the round of 16.
A closer look at the results of the Indian paddlers at the Singapore Smash 2024
In the men’s singles round of 32 match, 41-year-old veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal took on much higher-ranked World No. 13 Darko Jorgic. Kamal initially went down in the match, losing the first game 8-11.
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However, the Commonwealth Games medalist used his wealth of experience to quickly change tactics and adapt to Jorgic’s style of play. The Indian paddler went on to comfortably win the next three sets to seal the match and advance to the pre-quarterfinals. He will now take on Omar Assar of Egypt.
Kamal had to battle it through the qualifying rounds before making it to the main draw. He beat Andre Istrate, Yuta Tanaka, and Slovenia’s Deni Kozul in the qualifying rounds before beating higher-ranked Nicolas Burgos of Chile in his first round of the main draw.
Meanwhile, in the women’s doubles category, Ayhika and Sutirtha Mukherjee faced a tough battle against Adina Diaconu and Maria Xiao in their round-of-16 encounter. After losing the first game 4-11, the Asian Games medalists from India fought back to level terms, but Diaconu and Xiao were quick to react, and the paddlers from Romania and Spain took the third game 11-3 before wrapping up the match by winning the fourth set 11-9.
Despite their valiant efforts, the Indian duo succumbed to Diaconu and Xiao, with the final score of the match being 4-11, 14-12, 3-11, 9-11, ending their campaign at Singapore Smash 2024.
Achanta Sharath Kamal is now the sole Indian still battling it out at the tournament.
