Sathiyan lone Indian survivor at ITTF World C’ship

Budapest, April 24 (IANS) G. Sathiyan was the lone Indian survivor at the ITTF World Championships as he edged past Christian Pletea of Romania 11-5, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6 in a Tuesday night R64 match. The world No. 28 will meet Hugo Calderano of Brazil, ranked 7, in round of 32 later on Wednesday.

Sathiyan, who beat Belgian Robin Devos in the first round 4-0, had little difficulty against Pletea and defeated 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 sew it up and won the next two games.

Sharath Kamal, on the other hand, was woefully 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 36, failed to come to grips against the world No. 58, who had a better control over the match and Sharath. The Indian, however, registered a 4-0 win over Uzbekistan'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 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 on Tuesday evening. Taipei's Szu-Yu Chen beat Manika 11-2, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9. The world No. 24 needed mere 34 minutes against the world No. 56 Indian. In contrast, Suthirta managed to take two games of Puerto Rican Adriana Diaz before losing 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 3-11, 9-11.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, the Japanese duo of Honoka Hashimoto and Hitomi Sato defeated Manika and Archana Kamath 11-3, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 in women doubles round of 32.

In the Day 4 action, Sathiyan and Archana failed to cope with the higher-ranked Lee Sangsu and Jihee Jion in mixed doubles and the Korean pair moved into the quarterfinals with a 11-6, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8 scoreline.