Ghosh-Sathiyan enter Bulgaria Open final

The Indian pair of Soumyajit Ghosh and G. Sathiyan defeated compatriots Anthony Amalraj and Sanil Shetty to enter the men's doubles final at the Seamaster 2017 World Tour Asarel Bulgaria Open table tennis tournament here on Saturday.

The Ghosh-Sathiyan duo defeated Amalraj and Shetty in straight games 11-3, 12-10, 11-8. They will now take on the top-seeded Japanese duo of Jin Uda and Maharu Yoshimura in the final on Sunday.

The Japanese had a tough time against Hungarians Nandor Ecseki and Adamszudi before winning their semi-final match 11-9, 5-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-6.

Both Ghosh and Sathiyan faced a tough encounter against Taipei's Lin un Ju and Yang Heng-Wei in the quarter-finals which the Indians won 3-2. However, Amalraj and Shetty had an easy quarter-final outing against Tedor Alexandrov and Denislav Kodjabashev of Bulgaria.

But when it came to facing Ghosh and Sathiyan, except for the second game where they were extended, Amalraj and Shetty failed to press home the advantage in the semi-final.

Earlier, Manika Batra and Mouna Das lost to their opponents Matilda Ekholm and Georgina Pota, a Sweden-Hungary combine, 4-11, 11-8, 12-14, 12-14 in a tough women's doubles semi-final match.

Manav Thakkar, too, had to satisfy himself with the bronze after losing his men's U-21 singles semi-final match to Tomas Polansky of the Czech Republic 8-11, 6-11, 11-5, 8-11.

--IANS

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