India’s campaign ends in World TT ends with Sharath’s loss

Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal went down fighting to Gionis Panagiotis of Greece in a third round match to bring an end to India’s campaign at the World Table Tennis Championships in Yokohama,Japan,on Friday.

Sharath,world number 85,lost to Panagiotis 12-10,9-11,11-13,13-11,8-11,8-11 in a tight round of 32 match. The lanky Indian,who upset world number 39 Steger Bastian of Germany yesterday,drew first blood winning the opening game and was neck and neck with the Greek till the fourth game before running out of steam in the fifth and sixth.

Sharath later teamed up with former national champion Subhajit Saha and the duo went down 13-11,7-11,12-10,5-11,11-8,9-11,8-11 in a second round doubles match against Brazilian pair of Monteiro Thiago and Tsuboi Gustavo.

The Indians had earlier failed to get past the first round in women’s singles and doubles while Sharath was the lone entry in main draw of men’s singles.