India’s Archana Kamath lost 11-9, 11-13, 8-11, 6-11 to second seed Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong in the World Table Tennis Star Contender women’s singles quarterfinals on Friday.
The Indian, unseeded here and ranked 132 in the world, started well against the 15th-ranked Kem. She played some bold shots from the back of the table, especially the down-the-line forehand winners.
After claiming the first game, Archana was confidence-personified as she stretched Kem, who was part of the National team which won bronze in the women’s team event at the Tokyo Olympics, for almost every point. However, Kem used her experience to good effect, played the crucial points well by not making many unforced errors during longer rallies to win a close second game. From there on, Kem didn’t have much of a problem.
Archana beat three higher-ranked players on her way to the last eight.
Archana felt happy after having pulled off her best performance in a major international event.
Speaking to The Hindu , she said: “This was a good tournament where I got an opportunity to play some good matches and it was definitely a great learning experience. I need to improve and get better. I would love to thank Manav Thakkar for helping me [as coach] in my matches here.
