Indian challenge ends as Sathiyan bows out

The Indian challenge at 2019 ITTF World Championships came to an end when G Sathiyan lost to Hugo Calderano of Brazil in men's singles round of 32 in Budapest on Wednesday.

The Brazilian, ranked No. 7 in the world, took less than 30 minutes to put it across the top-ranked Indian 11-6, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9 and move into the pre-quarterfinals.

However, it was creditable that Sathiyan had reached the round of 32 in this prestigious event.

Sathiyan, who had secured a berth in the Chengdu World Cup, had finished sixth in the Asian Cup held at Yokohama recently.

Sharath Kamal, on the other hand, was woefully out of sorts against Tomislav Pucar of Croatia when he went down 9-11 10-12 11-8 4-11 9-11 in the round of 64.

The Indian, ranked No. 36, failed to come to grips against the world No. 58, who had a better control over the match and Sharath. The Indian, however, registered a 4-0 win over Uzbek's Zokhid Kenjaev in the first round.

Manav Thakkar, who had made the main draw cut, failed to go past Austrian Robert Gardos despite a very good fight. The young Indian paddler lost 13-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-3, 2-11, 10-12, 6-11 in the round of 128.

Both Manika Batra and Suthirta Mukherjee ended their World Championships campaign, bowing out in round of 64 Tuesday night.

Taipei's Szu-Yu Chen beat Manika 11-2, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9 as the world No. 24 needed mere 34 minutes against the world No. 56 Indian. In contrast, Suthirta managed to take two games of her rival before losing to Puerto Rican Adriana Diaz 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 3-11, 9-11.