WTT Star Contender Chennai: Achanta Sharath Kamal lives to fight another day

Achanta Sharath Kamal began the last event of his professional table tennis career without jeopardy as he won his openers in both men’s singles and doubles at the WTT Star Contender event in Chennai on Thursday.

Sharath, a five-time Olympian and a 10-time national champion, and Snehit Suravajjula, 18 years his junior, took down the all-Australian pair of Nicolas Lum and Finn Luu 3-2 (11-6, 7-11, 13-11, 6-11, 11-9) in a thrilling round-of-16 doubles match.

However, it was his singles match where Sharath, who will retire after this event, had more freedom to show his vintage self. Facing qualifier Anirban Ghosh in the last match on the show court at the Nehru Indoor Stadium, the 42-year-old had a calm look on his face.

Wearing a blue hairband and donning the India jersey, Sharath defeated the 26-year-old Ghosh 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 12-10) in 22 minutes.

All three games were different mini-battles for Sharath and he came out on top in all of them. In the opener, Sharath stamped his authority with powerful forehand shots multiple times. On one occasion, Ghosh had no time to react as the ball hit him back on the arm.

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The second game was a topsy-turvy affair with the two players exchanging leads frequently. However, at 9-9, Sharath caught Ghosh in an awkward position with an inside-out forehand shot to draw the error. The veteran clinched the second game courtesy an unforced error from his opponent.

Ghosh, having the upper hand for most of the third game, led 8-4. Sharath reduced the deficit to a single point, forcing Ghosh to ask for a timeout.

The break seemed to have worked for Ghosh as he earned himself two game points at 10-8.

But Sharath’s experience helped him claw his way back to 10-10. He then unleashed a lethal backhand return to gain his first match-point opportunity and sealed the deal by outwitting Ghosh in the next rally.

Sharath raised both his arms in relief as he lived to fight another day. World No. 92 Sharath will take on 10th-seeded Australian Lum in the round of 32 and will hope that more than 200-odd spectators, who showed up to support him in his tournament opener, will come for his next match.

“Personally, I have surpassed my expectations coming into the tournament, I did not know what kind of shape I would be in. With so much happening, I really didn’t know if I would be able to give my best. But today, I was able to do that in both singles and doubles,” said Sharath after the match.

Ayhika-Sutirtha stunned

Earlier in the day, Asian Games bronze medallists Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee suffered a shock loss to wildcards Sreeja Akula and Swastika Ghosh in an all-Indian round of 16 clash in women’s doubles. Sreeja and Ghosh targeted Sutirtha’s error prone forehand to great effect and won 3-1 (11-7, 11-13, 11-7, 12-10).

In men’s singles, qualifier Payas Jain stunned former World No. 24 G. Sathiyan 3-1 (11-8, 2-11, 11-8, 11-3) for the first win of his career at the WTT Star Contender level.

“I was playing more to his body and backhand. I had more counter-attacks than him,” said Payas after the win. The 20-year-old Indian will be up against eighth-seeded Japanese Sora Matsushima next for a place in the pre-quarterfinals.

Manush stages comeback

Men’s national champion Manush Shah came back from a game and 4-10 down to beat Italian qualifier John Oyebode 3-1 (11-13, 12-10, 13-11, 11-6). Shah is set to take on World No. 43 Lim Jonghoon of South Korea next.

Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai, India’s top two male players, also progressed to the next round. While Thakkar faces 11th-seeded Australian Finn Luu, Desai plays third-seeded Dane Jonathan Groth in the round of 32.

In women’s singles, 14-year-old qualifier Divyanshi Bhowmick took down World No. 64 Giorgia Piccolin 3-2 (13-15, 11-9, 9-11, 11-1, 11-6) on her debut at the senior level. National champion Diya Chitale, qualifier Kavya Bhatt and Ayhika also joined Divyanshi as they booked their places in the round of 32.