ITTF Men's World Cup: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran's dream campaign ends after defeat to former World No 1 Timo Boll

Chengdu: G Sathiyan’s dream run at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Men’s World Cup came to an end after the Indian went down to former world number one Timo Boll on Saturday. The world number 30 Sathiyan, making his World Cup debut, went down 1-4 (11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 9-11, 8-11) to the German in the pre-quarters. [caption id=“attachment_7717561” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sathiyan started on a bright note, taking a 1-0 lead, but the experienced Boll replied quickly to level the match. Image: Twitter @ittfworld[/caption] Sathiyan started on a bright note, taking a 1-0 lead, but the experienced Boll replied quickly to level the match. The two-time World Cup champion then dominated the tie, winning the next three games without much trouble. On Friday, Sathiyan had defeated higher ranked Frenchman Simon Gauzy 11-13, 9-11, 11-8, 14-12, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8 before beating world number 24 Groth Jonathan of Denmark 11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-2, to top his group and reach the round of 16.