ITTF Asian Championships 2019: Indian men's doubles pair Sharath Kamal, Gnanasekaran Sathiyan ease into quarter-finals

The Indian men’s doubles pair of G Sathiyan and Achanta Sharath Kamal sailed into the quarter-finals of the 24th ITTF Asian Table Tennis Championships with an easy win over Mahfoodh Sayed Murtadha and Rashed Rashed of Bahrain at Yogyakarta, Indonesia on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_6844181” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Sharath Kamal (L) and G Sathiyan. Reuters[/caption] The Indian duo beat Murtadha and Rashed 11-8, 11-6, 11-3 in a lop-sided affair. In the quarter-finals, Sathiyan and Sharath Kamal will be up against Chinese pair of Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan. Earlier in the day after receiving first-round bye, the Indians got the better of Jordan’s Abo Yaman Zaid and Aldmaizy Zeyad 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 in the round of 32. But the other Indian pair of Harmeet Desai and Anthony Amalraj, after enjoying a bye in the round of 64, lost to Chinese Taipei’s Liu Hsing-Yin and Peng Wang Wei. Harmeet and Amalraj fought hard before losing 11-5, 7-11, 11-3, 8-11, 6-11 against their accomplished Chinese rivals. It was curtains for India in the women’s doubles as the pair of Manika Batra and Archana Kamath and Madhurika Patkar and Sutirtha Mukherjee bowed out the tournament. The pair of Manika and Archana had an easy round of 64 outing, beating the Kazak duo of Lavnova Anastassiya and Khusseinova Gulchekhra 3-0 but lost in the next round to Korean combination of Yang Haeun and Jeon Jhee 6-11, 9-11, 7-11. Madhurika and Sutirtha followed suit as they lost to Doo Hoi Kem and Lee Ho Ching of Hong Kong 9-11, 5-11, 11-13 after clearing the round of 64 hurdle against Macau’s Tao Chong and Lei Wai Mei 3-0. In the mixed event, the pairs of Sharath Kamal-Manika and Sathiyan-Archana lost in the round of 32. While Korean pair of Lee Sangsu and Jeo Jhiee accounted for Sharath and Manika 11-9, 11-8, 11-7, China’s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha beat Sathiyan and Archana 11-7, 11-9, 13-11. In men singles, Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan, Amalraj, Harmeet and Manav Thakkar had all received first-round byes and registered 3-0 wins over their respective rivals in the round of 128. Only Harmeet dropped a game against Panagitgun Yanapang of Thailand before overcoming his rival 11-9, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5. In women singles, Archana enjoyed the random bye in the round of 128 while others had to play their first-round matches to enter the round of 64.