Star Indian paddler Sathiyan Gnanasekaran on Saturday crashed out of the ongoing International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Men's World Cup after losing his Round of 16 match to Germany's Timo Bull. Sathiyan, who made it to the main draw after defeating Simon Gauzy of France and Jonathan Groth of Denmark in the preliminary round, had to face a crushing 1-4 (11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 9-11, 8-11) defeat to Timo.
Playing in his first-ever World Cup, the World No. 30 clearly kept up with his mood and took the first game 11-7. However, the German was quick to respond with a leveller himself and won the game two 11-8.
In the third game, the former world number one used all his magic tricks to move beyond the reach of the 17th seeded Indian and won 11-5.
Timo didn't take the game stretch for too long as he took the next two games 11-9 and 11-8 to win the match 4-1 and book his place in the quarterfinals.
The 26-year-old Indian however should take heart from his performances in Chengdu. He accounted for Simon Gauzy, the no.12 seed, in his opening encounter (11-13, 9-11, 11-8, 14-12, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8), prior to overcoming Jonathan Groth, the no.14 seed (11-3, 12-10, 7-11, 16-14, 8-11, 11-8) to seal top place in his group.
Prior to their meetings in Chengdu, Sathiyan had played Simon and Jonathan, each on three occasions in world ranking events, he had lost all six matches.
