Achantha Sharath Kamal advanced to the second round of the men’s singles, while all his Indian teammates bowed out of individual events at the World table tennis championships in Paris on Wednesday.
Sharath Kamal registered a 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9 win over Spain’s Carlos Machado in his first singles encounter and will now take on World No. 5 Timo Boll of Germany in the second round.
The Indian challenge ended in the women’s singles too after all the qualifiers — Mouma Das, K. Shamini and Madhurika Patkar — lost their respective opening matches of the main draw.
In the mixed doubles competition, the duo of Ghosh and Das accounted for Russia’s Alexander Shibaev and Elena Troshneva 16-14, 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8 to seal a spot in the last 32 stage.
The results (Indians only): Men’s singles: First round : Sharath Kamal bt Carlos Machado (Esp) 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9; Anthony Amalraj lost to Koki Niwa (Jap) 5-11, 4-11, 8-11, 7-11; Soumyajit Ghosh lost to Long Ma (Chn) 11-8, 11-4, 11-3, 11-9.
Women’s singles: First round : K. Shamini lost to Nikoleta Stefanova (Ita) 4-11, 5-11, 7-11, 9-11; Madhurika Patkar lost to Wing Nam Ng (Hkg) 8-11, 4-11, 8-11, 12-10, 3-11; Mouma Das lost to Ho Ching Lee (Hkg) 11-7, 5-11, 5-11, 6-11, 5-11.
Mixed doubles : Soumyajit & Mouma bt Alexander Shibaev & Elena Troshneva (Rus) 16-14, 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8; Sharath Kamal & Shamini lost to Patrick Franziska & Petrissa Solja (Ger) 4-0; Amalraj & Patkar lost to Maharu Yoshimura & Kasumi Ishikawa (Jpn) 4-2.
