World Table Tennis Team Championships: Indian men, women paddlers reach pre-quarterfinals. table tennis news

Harmeet Desai took the Indian men’s team into the pre-quarterfinals by winning the decisive fifth match, while the women’s team reached the last-16 stage of the World Table Tennis Team Championships with a comfortable 3-0 win in Busan, South Korea on Wednesday. . The men’s team had to work hard to beat Kazakhstan 3-2, but the women’s team had an easier day as they defeated Italy 3-0 to advance to the next round. The men’s team will now take on the mighty South Koreans while the women will take on Chinese-Taipei on Wednesday.

Harmeet lost 2-3 to Kirill Gerasimenko (9-11, 12-10, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8) in the opening match, before his senior partner and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Sharath Kamal Brought India on par. -3-2 win over Alan Kurmangaliev.

Age-defying 41-year-old Sharath Kamal dug deep into his reserves to turn the situation around against his Kazakh rival after being two games down.

Sharath Kamal eventually won 6-11, 7-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-9.

After this G. Sathiyan, after a slight lapse of concentration in the second game, gave India a 2-1 lead and eventually secured a comfortable 3-1 win.

Sathiyan, a two-time CWG gold medalist in the team event, won the opening game 11-6 but lost the next game 5-11. He recovered from this defeat to win the last two games 11-2, 11-7 and did not give any chance to his opponent as his topspin got him maximum points.

Sharath Kamal, however, lost his second singles match 1-3 to Kirill Gerasimenko (4-11, 9-11, 11-6, 7-11) as Kazakhstan leveled the score.

Harmeet showed no signs of nervousness in the deciding game and won 3-1 (11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7).

In the women’s category, Sreeja Akula defeated Nicoletta Stefanova 12-10, 11-6, 11-8, while Manika Batra defeated Giorgia Pikolin 12-10, 11-6, 11-5.

Ayhika Mukherjee leveled the score with a 15-13, 11-9, 13-15, 11-8 win over Gaia Monfardini.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)