India’s G. Sathiyan progressed to the knockout stages of the 2019 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) men’s World Cup, after winning all his group matches, here on Friday.
The World No.30 started his campaign with a spirited comeback to defeat World No. 22 Simon Gauzy 11-13, 9-11, 11-8, 14-12, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8.
Sathiyan, who had lost to the 12th seed in three previous meetings, dropped the first two games. He, however, clinched four of the next five games to complete a successful turnaround.
Later in the day, he powered past Denmark’s Jonathan Groth 11-3, 12-10, 7-11, 16-14, 8-11, 11-8 to finish atop Group D. Groth, the 14th seed, had lost his first match against Gauzy.
To face Boll next
Sathiyan will now face fifth seed Timo Boll in the round-of-16. Boll, a two-time World Cup champion and former World no. 1, is appearing in the tournament for the 16th time.
Speaking to Sportstar , Sathiyan said: “The name is enough. I am a huge fan of him, but pressure is on him to deliver. I will be playing against him in an international tournament for the first time and I’m looking forward to putting up a great show.”
