Soumyajit, Sathiyan top groups, advance in German Open TT

India's Soumyajit Ghosh and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran beat the odds to top their respective groups in the Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open table tennis tournament here on Thursday.

Sathiyan had to fight hard for his place in the next round. He got the better of Hong Kong's Man Ho Kwan 9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 11-3 in his first match.

He faced a tough challenge in his second match and had to dig deep to prevail 13-11, 8-11, 11-8, 3-11, 3-11, 11-8, 14-12 against Romania's Ovidiu Ionescu.

Later, Sathiyan did one better, upsetting former world junior champion Jang Woojin. He is now just one step away from making it to the main round of this elite tournament.

Soumyajit, ranked World No 93, romped past Chile's Alfonso Olave 5-11, 11-5, 13-11, 11-5, 11-7.

He had a bad start, going down to Olave in the opening game. But he came back strongly to win the next four for an impressive victory.

He was much more assured in his next game against Quentin Robinot, winning 11-5, 13-11, 11-5, 11-7.

India's other top players, Sharath Kamal Achanta and Harmeet Desai, however, bowed out of the tournament after losing their respective second games on Wednesday.

--IANS

ajb/bg