Sharath loses in pre-quarters, India's campaign over in Doha
Doha, March 4
Indian challenge at the World Table Tennis Contender series ended after veteran Sharath Kamal succumbed to world No. 7 Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei in the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals here on Thursday.
The 38-year-old Indian went down 6-11 4-11 8-11.
World No. 32 Sharath, who was playing his first international tournament after a year’s break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, couldn’t gain momentum despite showing good resistance in the latter part of the match against the higher-ranked Yun-Ju.
Earlier, Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula also lost their respective final qualifying round matches in the women’s singles category.
While Manika lost 5-11 6-11 14-12 5-11 to world No. 69 Ganna Gaponova, Akula, who had outclassed World No. 74 Vega Paulina of Chile in the earlier round, lost 9-11 11-5 11-6 6-11 5-11 to Russian Mariia Tailkova. PTI
