India men paddlers topped their respective groups on Thursday to enter stage two of the Asian Olympic qualification table tennis tournament in Hong Kong.
Sharath Kamal topped group D by beating all his three rivals while Amal Raj and Soumyajit Ghosh got the better of their opponents to attain the top spot in groups E and F.
But in the women's section, only Ankita Das has confirmed her entry into the second stage, having won two matches in the five-player group, according to reports received from Hong Kong.
Both Poulomi Ghatak and Shamini have won and lost a match each in their respective groups. However, with the top four players in each of the three groups going through to the second stage, Poulomi and Shamini are expected to make the grade. Sharath beat Kim Song Nam of North Korea 4-2 (11-6, 12-10, 10-12, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3). Later Sharath blanked both Alinjawi Jassem of UAE and Philippines' Rodel Valle with a similar margin of 4-0.
Amal Raj had a tough opening match against higher-ranked North Korean Kim Hyok Bong but the Indian managed to prevail 4-3 (11-8, 11-7, 12-14, 11-5, 9-11, 6-11, 12-10). Amal went on to beat both Nikom Wongsiri of Thailand and Isaias Seronio of the Philippines, 4-0. Ghosh defeated top-ranked Wu Chi-Chi from Taipei 4-1 (11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8). He then beat Iranian Alamian Nima 4-0 and later UAE's Hassan Rashed with a similar scoreline.
Ankita Das beat Malaysian Ng Sock Khim 9-11, 4-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9 and Vietnam's Mai Hoang My Tarang 10-12, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7, 14-12, 14-16, 11-6.
