World Team Table Tennis Championship 2018: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnansekaran inspire win over Singapore; Women beat Luxembourg

The 54th edition of the 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championship has been underway since April 29th and is set to conclude on May 6th. Being held at Halmstad, Sweden, the tournament has not proved to be very fruitful for the Indian contingent.

Both the men and women's contingent did not see it past the group stages and were left to compete for their ranks in the 13-24 places classification match. The men's team, who finished 5th in group D, faced Singapore yesterday and emerged victorious with an impressive score of 3-0. The women on the other, hand who finished at the bottom of group A, faced Luxembourg yesterday and won 3-1.

Despite their poor performance in the group stages, the men and women contingents managed to put up a good fight in the 13-24 classification stage on Thursday.

Let's take a look at how the two contingents fared:

Men's Division

The men's contingent faced Singapore in the 13-24 classification stage. Comprising Sathiyan Gyanasekaran, Sanil Shetty and Achanta Sharath Kamal, the contingent put up a terrific fight to beat the much-favoured opponents 3-0.

The first match was contested between Sathiyan and Gao Ning, where the former beat Ning in straight games 11-7, 11-9, 11-7. He wrapped up the match in three games, giving India the lead at 1-0.

The second match was played between Sharath Kamal and Tan Lucas, where the latter lost 3-0. Achanta finished the match in 3 sets, finishing with an impressive 11-9 11-5 11-5 scorecard, allowing India to lead 2-0.

The third match saw Shetty up against Ethan Poh, with Shetty defeating his opponent with a finishing score of 3-1. Shetty completed his match in 4 sets, 11-5 11-4 and 11-9 with Poh winning just one set.

India therefore, finished 3-0 against Singapore, winning the first 3 ties of the match.

Women's Division

The women's contingent faced Luxembourg after finishing at the bottom of group A. Comprising Manika Batra, Mouma Das and Madhurika Patkar, the Indian contingent took on Luxembourg to emerge victorious with a 3-1 scoreline.

The first match between Batra and Ni Xia Lian finished in 4 sets, with Batra winning 3-1 with a scoreline of 11-7, 11-8, 11-8 respectively, to give India a lead.

The second match saw Mouma Das defeating her opponent Konsbruck Danielle, 3-1 again. The Indian won 3 sets out of 4 with scores of 11-3, 11-7 and 11-9 respectively, taking India one step higher.

The third match between Madhurika Patkar and De Nutte Sarah finished 1-3 with the latter clinching the match. Patkar lost the match after losing to her opponent 11-5, 11-6 and 11-10.

Giving India the lead once again was Manika Batra who's striking performance allowed her to win the match 3-0 against Konnebruck Danielle. She won the 3 sets 13-11 11-5 and 11-3 to give India an overall win of 3-1.