Nagpur: Star Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal crashed to a 6-11, 4-11, 8-11 defeat against world No. 7 Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei in the men’s singles pre-quarters on Thursday.
The world No. 32 Sharath Kamal, who was playing his first international tournament after a year’s break due to the coronavirus pandemic, couldn’t gain momentum despite showing good resistance in the latter part of the match against the higher-ranked Yun-Ju. With Sharath’s loss, the Indian challenge came to an end in the tournament.
Gold Rate
27 June 2025
Meanwhile, in the mix-doubles category, French pair of Emmanuel Lebesson and Nan Jia Yuan was given a walkover against India’s Gnanasekaran Sathiyan and Sutirtha Mukherjee in the Round-of-16 match.
However, in the men’s doubles pre-quarters match played on Thursday, Sharath and Sathiyan suffered a 12-14, 7-11, 3-11 defeat against Gaston Alto and Horacio Cifuentes.
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, made her Russian opponent Mariia Tailkova work hard and almost got the momentum shifted in her favour with a come-from-behind 2-1 lead before losing the tie 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11.
