Sharath Kamal
Indian challenge at the World Table Tennis Contender series ended after veteran Sharath Kamal suffered a loss to world No. 7 Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals here on Thursday.
The 38-year-old Indian suffered a 6-11, 4-11, 8-11 defeat against Lin.
The World No. 32 Sharath, who was playing his first international tournament after a year's break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, couldn't gain momentum despite showing good resistance in the latter part of the match against the higher-ranked Yun-Ju.
Earlier, Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula also lost their respective final qualifying round matches in the women's singles category.
While Batra lost to World No. 69 Ganna Gaponova 5-11, 6-11, 14-12, 5-11, Akula, who had outclassed World No. 74 Vega Paulina of Chile in the earlier round, went down fighting 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11 to Russian opponent Mariia Tailkova.
