Paddler Sharath moves into Round 3 at Worlds

India's Sharath Kamal moved into the men's singles third round at the World Table Tennis Championship here on Wednesday.

Sharath defeated 35th-ranked Simon Gauzy of France in the second round. The World No.44 Indian won 11-4, 11-5, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8. Sharath will next meet the winner of the match between compatriot G. Sathiyan and Chinese Fang Bo. By entering Round 3, Sharath equalled his best performance at the Worlds.

Meanwhile, Soumyajit Ghosh moved into the second round. Ghosh upset 29th seed Aruna Quadri of Nigeria 11-6, 12-10, 14-12, 6-11, 11-5 in the opener and will take on Shibaev of Russia next.

World No.188 Sathiyan on the other hand moved into the second round with an upset win over 68th ranked Swede Gerell Par. The Indian won 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7 in the first round. However, a tougher task awaits Sathiyan as he runs into World No.14 Fang of China.

Earlier, Sharath was stretched by lowly-ranked Pak Sin Hyok of South Korea in Round 1. Sharath dropped the first and fifth sets before winning 12-14, 12-10, 12-10, 11-9, 5-11, 11-7.

In doubles, Sharath and Sathiyan lost to M. Morizono and Oshima Yuya of Japan 4-11, 11-9, 6-11, 4-11, 5-11 in the first round. Later H. Chiang and S. Huang beat Ghosh and Sanil Shetty 11-9, 10-12, 12-10, 11-4, 6-11, 11-8 in the first round.

In women's singles, Indian paddlers courted disappointment with both Mouma Das and K. Shamini going down tamely in the first round. Russian P. Mikhailova beat Mouma 11-6, 7-11, 13-11, 11-6, 11-6 while Shamini found R. Paskauskiene of Lithuania a tough opponent and lost 2-11, 5-11, 4-11, 9-11.

Shamini and Mouma's campaign in doubles also ended in the first round with the duo losing to N. Komwong (Thailand) and Li Xia Don (China) 11-7, 6-11, 1-11, 8-11, 7-11.

Ghosh and Mouma bowed out of the mixed doubles second round as South Koreans Kim Hyok Bong and Kim Jong won 11-7, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9. Ghosh and Mouma had won the first round, beating Mohd. Dsamasud and Hussien Habab of Sudan 11-3, 11-4, 11-5, 11-3.

Other Indian pair of Shetty and Manika Batra lost in the first round to Chen Chien and Chen Seu Yu of Chinese Taipei 11-3, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7.