Harpal Singh Bedi
New Delhi
Star paddler Achanta Sharat Kamal failed to produce another dominating performance and went down in straight games suffering a 9-11, 8-11, 6-11 defeat at the hands of World No. 12 Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the singles pre-quarterfinals match of the WTT Star Contender in Doha on Wedensday.
With Sharath’s defeat, Indian challenge at the tournament came to an end. Earlier, Gnanasekaran Sathiyan and Manika Batra had crashed out in their respective singles categories.
Former Commonwealth Games champion Sharath, who surprised World No. 16 Germany’s Patrick Franziska in the last round, started the game well and gave a tough fight to his relatively higher-ranked German opponent as the first two games of the match went neck-and neck before the London Olympics bronze medalist Ovtcharov turning the momentum in his favour.
The German further capitalised on the 2-0 lead and wrapped up the match to enter the quarter-final stage.