Indian men's TT team beats Vietnam, Macau to qualify for quarters

India's men's table tennis team finished second in Group D after defeating Vietnam 3-0 in their final clash before the knockouts at the 18th Asian Games here on Monday.

An utterly dominant India wrapped up the tie in two hours and will be in action again on Monday in the quarter-finals.

India's second highest ranked paddler G. Sathiyan started the proceedings with a hard fought 6-11, 11-2, 5-11, 11-4, 11-2 win in the opening encounter against Vietnam's Anh Tu Nguyen.

Veteran Sharath Kamal then made it 2-0 with a 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 win over Vietnam's Duc Tuan Nguyen.

Harmeet Desai wrapped up the tie with a 2-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-8 win over Duc Le Dinh.

Earlier, India blanked Macau 3-0 in their first game of the day.

Manav Thakkar defeated Ian Tin Mak 11-5, 11-4, 11-4 to steer India to a 3-0 victory.

The seasoned Anthony Amalraj gave India a 1-0 lead courtesy his 11-7, 11-3, 11-4 facile triumph over Chun Wang.

Harmeet next got the better of Zikang Xiao 11-4, 11-8, 8-11, 11-3 to extend India's lead to 2-0.

--IANS

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