Indian doubles pair of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Subhajit Saha, who toppled the second-seeded Chinese pair yesterday, failed to show the same intensity and crashed out with a 0-3 loss in the quarterfinals of the Asian Table Tennis Championships here today.
The Indian pair had beaten the local combo of Kin Wa Leong and Chi Pan Che 9-11, 11-8, 12-14, 11-2, 11-8 to move into the quarterfinals but they failed to recreate the same magic against Chu Yan Leung and Yuk Cheung of Hong Kong and lost 5-11, 8-11, 6-11 in less than 40 minutes.
It was a bad day for India as the other pair of A. Amalraj and Sanil Shetty also lost 0-3 to the Chinese duo of Ma Long and Wang Hao in the pre-quarterfinals. Also in both sections of the singles events, the Indian paddlers failed to make any progress.
Sharath and Saha, who had beaten a Macau duo of Leong Kin Wa and Che Chi Pa 3-2 in the pre- quarterfinals, playing a totally contrasting match.
In fact, both Sharath and Saha complimented each other in their match against Macau and attacked when needed and slowed down when the opposition was strong.
This ploy, somehow, could not be employed against Hong Kong players who never switched off from the first point they took against the Indian duo.