Sharath in Egypt Open final

Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal on Sunday closed in on his second successive international title when he defeated Jiang Tianyi of Hong Kong 4-1 to storm into final of the Egypt Open table tennis championships in Cairo.

World number 76, Sharath started the final-four clash on an attacking note pocketing the first two games 11-5, 11-6 before Tianyi regained touch and reduced the difference by beating the Indian 16-14 in a keenly-contested third game.

However, Sharath held his nerves to quell the late charge and pocketed the next two games 12-10, 11-9 to round off the score and set up a summit clash with Li Ching of Hong Kong, who beat Egyptian Lashin El-Sayed 4-1 in the other semifinal.

Earlier, the lanky Indian survived several anxious moments before getting the better of Salifou Abdel-Kader of France 4-3 in a long-drawn quarterfinal.

All the other Indians have already crashed out of the tournament.

Earlier this month, Sharath had notched up the biggest title of his career when he clinched the US Open crown at Michigan.