ITTF World Championships: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran bows out in Round of 32 to end Indian challenge

New Delhi: The Indian challenge at 2019 ITTF World Championships came to an end when G Sathiyan lost to Hugo Calderano of Brazil in men’s singles round of 32 in Budapest on Wednesday. The Brazilian, ranked No 7 in the world, took less than 30 minutes to put it across the top-ranked Indian 11-6, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9 and move into the pre-quarter-finals. [caption id=“attachment_4413605” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of G Sathiyan. Image Courtesy: Facebook[/caption] However, it was a credible effort from Sathiyan to reach the round of 32 in this prestigious event. Sathiyan, who had secured a berth in the Chengdu World Cup, had finished sixth in the Asian Cup held at Yokohama recently. Sharath Kamal, on the other hand, was woefully out of sorts against Tomislav Pucar of Croatia when he went down 9-11 10-12 11-8 4-11 9-11 in the round of 64. Both Manika Batra and Suthirta Mukherjee ended their World Championships campaign, bowing out in round of 64 Tuesday night. Manav Thakkar, who had made the main draw cut, failed to go past Austrian Robert Gardos despite a very good fight. The young Indian paddler lost 13-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-3, 2-11, 10-12, 6-11 in the round of 128.