The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : Sharath Kamal surrenders tamely to Mizutani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Table Tennis

Sharath Kamal surrenders tamely to Mizutani

Rakesh Rao

— Photo: Subir Roy

The Chinese men’s team which won the trophy on Thursday.

LUCKNOW: An erratic Sharath Kamal’s rather tame surrender to fourth seeded Japanese Jun Mizutani was disappointing after all the Indian ladies failed to survive the day in singles in the 19th Asian table tennis championship at the UP Badminton Academy hall here on Friday.

Mizutani, who let go of a life-time opportunity to land the knockout punch on China in the men’s team final late on Thursday, took the arena with a purpose and won 11-6, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4 in under 25 minutes to book a place in the fourth round.

Sharath received a bye in the first round and gained a place in the third by simply shaking hands with the Democratic People’s Republic’s Kim Song Guk, the team’s translator-cum-non-playing captain who was a non-starter due to injury.

The added rest did not help in bringing out the best from Sharath. Mizutani, ranked 11th in the world, did not let the Indian settle down. For his part, Sharath repeatedly shot himself in the foot by giving away easy points due to forehand errors.

Mizutani, who had beaten Sharath twice in the past, had no trouble in driving the Indian away from the table and then coming up with easy-looking finishing shots. Sharath did raise some hopes in the second game but Mizutani simply raced away with the third and fourth games.

The results: Men’s singles (involving Indians): Third round: Jun Mizutani (Jpn) bt A. Sharath Kamal 11-6, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4. Second round: Kim Hyok Bong (DPRK) bt Anirban Nandy 11-8, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8; Yang Zi (Sin) bt Zubin Kumar 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, 11-3; A. Sharath Kamal bt Kim Song Guk (retd); Wu Hao (Chn) bt Soumyadeep Roy 11-7, 11-4, 11-3, 11-7; Wu Chih-Chi (Tpe) bt Devesh Karia 11-6, 11-4, 11-1, 11-4; Seiya Kishikawa bt Aman Balgu 11-3, 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5; Sourav Chakraborty bt Pang Suejie (Sin) 7-11, 12-10, 11-2, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8.

Women’s singles (involving Indians): Cheng I. Ching (Tpe) bt Pooja Sahasrabhudhe 11-3, 11-4, 12-10, 11-5; Yu Mengyu (Sin) bt K. Shamini 11-7, 11-3, 11-3, 11-2; Ai Fukuhara (Jpn) bt Mamta Prabhu 11-2, 11-3, 11-6, 11-7; Hyon Ryon Hui (DPRK) bt Poulomi Ghatak 11-9, 11-5, 16-14, 11-6; Lau Sui Fei (Hkg) bt Madhurika Patkar 11-6, 11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 11-3; Yuka Ishigaki (Jpn) bt Divya Deshpande 11-3, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7; Kim Jong (DPRK) bt Mouma Das 11-6, 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 11-5.

Women’s doubles (second round, involving Indians): Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak bt Tharini Weerakhoon and Ishra Dharshika (Sri) 11-7, 11-2, 7-11, 11-6; Han Hye Song and Hyon Ryon Hui (DPRK) bt K. Shamini and Madhurika Patkar 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-4; Lin Ling and Zhang Rui bt Divya Deshpande and Pooja Saharabudhe 11-5, 11-9, 11-9.

Mixed doubles (fourth round): Ma Long and Li Xiaoxia (Chn) bt Lee Jinkwon and Lee Eun Hee (Kor) 11-4, 11-3, 8-11, 11-4; Kenta Matsudaira and Kasumi Ishikawa (Jpn) bt Peng Tang and Huajun Jiang (Hkg) 11-4, 11-8, 5-11, 13-11; Jang Song Man and Han hye Song (DPRK) bt Jun Mizutani and Sayaka Hirano (Jpn) 11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9; Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen (Chn) bt Jiang Tianyi and Zhang Rui (Hkg) 5-11, 12-10, 11-3, 11-6; Zhang Jike and Ding Ning bt Cheung Yuk and Lau Sui Fei (Hkg) 11-5, 11-5, 11-8; Seiya Kishikawa and Ai Fukuhara (Jpn) bt Wu Chih-Chi and Lin Chia-Huei (Tpe) 11-6, 11-8, 11-9; Chuang Chih-Yuan and Huang Yi-Hua (Tpe) bt Wang Liqin and Wu Yang (Chn) 15-13, 11-7, 4-11, 11-4.

Team championship: Men (final): China bt Japan 3-2 (Xu Xin lost to Kenta Matsudaira 7-11, 5-11, 11-5, 8-11; Zhang Jike bt Jun Mizutani 11-5, 11-9, 2-11, 11-8; Ma Long lost to Seiya Kishikawa 8-11, 9-11, 7-11; Xu Xin bt Mizutani 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 6-11, 15-13; Zhang Jike bt Matsudaira 11-6, 11-9, 11-9).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport