Ghosh guns down higher-ranked Russian in Japan Open TT

Young Indian paddler Soumyajit Ghosh pulled off one of the biggest victories of his career beating World No.76 Alexy Liventsov of Russia in the opening round of the ITTF World Tour Japan Open here today.
There was hardly anything to choose between two players in their hard fought battle until the seventh and deciding game, which the 21-year-old Indian won convincingly for a 16-14 9-11 12-14 14-12 8-11 11-8 11-3 win. The World No.140 next plays 19th-ranked Tang Peng of Hong Kong.
Sharath Kamal, India's highest-ranked player at 40, was stretched to seven games by little known Chew Zhe Yu Clarence of Singapore. The seasoned Indian eventually prevailed 11-2 7-11 11-8 8-11 11-8 5-11 12-10. He takes on Russian Kirill Skachkov, who is ranked 72.

Reigning national champion Sanil Shetty, one of the three Indians to make the main draw, could not progress beyond round one after losing to Japan's Koki Niwa 11-8 11-13 1-11 7-11 2-11.