By Harpal Singh Bedi
G. Sathiyan kept Indian challenge alive as his other compatriots including Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra fell by the wayside in the ITTF World Table Tennis Championship at Budapest.
Sathiyan edged past Christian Pletea of Romania 11-5, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6 in a late evening R64 match . The world No. 28 will meet Hugo Calderano of Brazil, ranked No. 7, in round of 32 .
Sathiyan, who beat Belgian Robin Devos in the first round 4-0, had little difficulty against Pletea, ranked 131, as he disposed of him in 35 minutes. Sathiyan, leading 2-0, lost the third game as the Romanian won six consecutive points to cause a minor ripple. But the Indian was up to the task to sew it up winning the next two games.
Sharath Kamal, on the other hand, was out of sorts against Tomislav Pucar of Croatia when he went down 9-11, 10-12, 11-8, 4-11, 9-11 in round 64.
The Indian, ranked No. 36, failed to come to grips against the world No. 58, who had a better control over the match .
Sharath however, registered a 4-0 win over Uzbek’s Zokhid Kenjaev in the first round.
Manav Thakkar, who had made the main draw cut, failed to go past Austrian Robert Gardos despite a very good fight. The young Indian paddler lost 13-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-3, 2-11, 10-12, 6-11 in the round of 128.
Both Manika Batra and Suthirta Mukherjee ended their world championships campaign, bowing out in round of 64 . Taipei’s Szu-Yu Chen beat Manika 11-2, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9 as the world No. 24 needed mere 34 minutes against the world No. 56 Indian. In contrast, Suthirta managed to take two games of her rival before losing to Puerto Rican Adriana Diaz 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 3-11, 9-11.
Earlier the Japanese duo of Honoka Hashimoto and Hitomi Sato defeated Manika Batra and Archana Kamath 11-3, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 in women doubles round of 32.
Sathiyan and Archana failed to cope with the higher-ranked Lee Sangsu and Jihee Jion in mixed doubles as the Korean pair moved into the quarterfinals with a 11-6, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8.