A gallant Sharath Kamal proved what a fighter he is.
Having fought the odds all through his decade-long international career, he gave another evidence of being the best-ever seen from the country by punching way over his weight to retain his sixth place in the $100,000 Asian Cup table tennis championship here.
In an arena where some of the best in the world were on view, the 49th-ranked Sharath made his presence felt once again. Following his expected loss to fifth seeded Japanese Jun Mizutani in the quarterfinals, Sharath ended his run of defeats to World No. 15 Gao Ning with a memorable 11-7, 4-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-5 triumph in the playoff for fifth to eighth places.
Later in the evening, Sharath raised visions of avenging the defeat suffered at the same stage of the last edition of the championship to 32rd ranked Korean Kim Minseok. However, in a thriller that went the distance, the Korean won 8-11, 11-2, 15-17, 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10 to retain his fifth place.
Even as Sharath carried memories of having scalped three players from the World’s top-20 list in two days, China ensured the men’s singles title by setting up a repeat clash of the 2014 Asian Games.
Asian Games gold medallist Xu Xin showed his class in maintaining his domination of Mizutani by beating him for the ninth time in as many encounters in their semifinals. From the other half, Fan Zhendong made it without dropping a set against Kim Minseok and Hong Kong’s Tang Peng.
In women’s singles, the top two seeds made it to the title-clash. In a repeat result of the 2014 Asian Games final, favourite Liu Shiwen defeated her Chinese teammate Zhu Yuling in straight sets.
She now plays second seed Feng Tianwei who bounced back from 2-3 to win the last two sets to stop Japanese Ai Fukuhara.
The results (number denotes world ranking):
Men: Semifinals: 2-Xu Xin (Chn) bt 5-Jun Mizutani (Jpn) 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-5; 3-Fan Zhengdong (Chn) bt 13-Tang Peng (Hkg)11-3, 12-10, 11-7, 11-9.
Quarterfinals: Xin bt 15-Gao Ning (Sin) 11-7, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4; Mizutani bt 49-Sharath Kamal 11-3, 14-12, 11-2, 11-6; Tang bt 12-Koki Nawa (Jpn) 11-8, 8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10; Fan bt 32-Kim Minseok (Kor) 11-3, 11-3, 11-3, 11-6.
Women: Semifinals: 3-Liu Shiwen (Chn) bt 6-Zhu Yuling (Chn) 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6; 4-Feng Tianwei (Sin) bt 11-Ai Fukuhara (Jpn) 10-12, 11-6, 11-4, 11-13, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7.
Quarterfinals: Liu bt 43-Cheng I-Ching (Tpe) 11-4, 11-9, 11-3, 11-5; Zhu bt 5-Kasumi Shikawa (Jpn) 11-4, 11-6, 11-3, 12-10; Fukuhara bt 10-Seo Hyowon (Kor) 11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 11-3, 17-19, 11-5; Feng bt 33-Doo Hoi Kem (Hkg) 7-11, 11-1, 11-7, 4-11, 11-5, 11-4.
