Asian Games TT: India lose despite Sharath’s stellar show

GUANGZHOU - India’s ace paddler Sharath Kamal shocked World no. 29 Kenta Matsudaira but the effort was not enough for the men’s team to get past a formidabe Japan, who won the quarterfinals 1-3 in the team championships of the Asian Games here Sunday.

The women’s team were handed a crushing 0-3 defeat by top-seeds China in another quarterfinal at the Guangzhou Gymnasium.

World no. 48 Sharath upset 29th-ranked Matsudaira 11-7, 12-10, 11-6 to give India a surprising 1-0 lead against the mighty Japanese.

But the Indians could not capitalise on a dream start. The team lost the next three singles and bowed out.

Amalraj Anthony put up a fight against World no. 9 Jun Mizutani but lost 10-12, 5-11, 9-11.

Soumyadeep Roy won the second game but could not keep the momentum going against Seiya Kishikawa and lost 8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 5-11 in the third singles.

Sharath needed to win the fourth rubber against higher-ranked Jun to keep India’s hopes alive. He could not create the second upset of the day and went down 9-11, 6-11, 11-6, 8-11.

A little later, the women’s team were blanked by China, boasting of three top-10 players in their ranks.

Shamini Kumaresan could not do much against world no. 1 Yan Guo, losing 6-11, 7-11, 2-11.

Madhurika Patkar was no match for Xiaoxia Li in her 7-11, 4-11, 4-11 defeat in the second singles.

Mouma Das also lost in straight sets to World no. 4 Yue Guo 4-11, 7-11, 9-11.