Giant killer Sharath enters quarterfinals with easy win

PTI

Singapore, March 14

Veteran Indian table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal continued his giant-killing run in the Singapore Smash by defeating world No. 22 Omar Assar of Egypt to enter the quarterfinals here today.

A day after he upset world No. 13 Darko Jorgic of Slovenia, Sharath recorded a comfortable 11-4 11-8 12-10 win over Assar in the Round of 16 of $1.5 million event.

World No. 88 Sharath, who had come through the qualifiers, will face Felix Lebrun of France in the quarterfinals.

“It is all because of the way we had prepared for the World Championships in South Korea (Busan). Secondly, the confidence we have gained after the teams qualified for the Paris Olympics,” Sharath said.

Sharath had made first-round exits in the first two editions of the tournament. “Honestly, I didn’t expect to go so far. I had to go through the qualification rounds, and to do what I did was excellent. I am immensely happy about it, especially my fitness part and focus,” he said.

Olympics chances

The stellar run will boost Sharath’s chance of sealing a berth in the singles event of the Paris Olympics with his rankings set to improve.

India can send only two entries in the singles event and the Table Tennis Federation of India will take the final call considering the individual rankings. Currently, Harmeet Desai (64) and Manav Thakkar (83) are the top two Indians in the men’s section.

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