Busan (South Korea): Indian men's team lost their pre-quarterfinal fixture in the ongoing World Table Tennis Championship on Wednesday by 0-3. Harmeet Desai, Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran lost their singles.
India men followed their counterparts by suffering a defeat in the pre-quarterfinal of the World Table Tennis Championship against South Korea. With the loss, the chances to book a berth in the Paris Olympics are almost over for the Indian contingent.
Harmeet Desai put up a strong fight against Jang Woojin in the first match of the tie but was unable to avoid the defeat. The first two games of the fixture against were quite close and the Korean won them with a minimal margin of two points. However, World Rank 14, Jang was ruthless in the third game emerging triumphant in the first match of the tie. South Korea were leading 1-0 in the tie as a result of 12-10, 13-11, 11-7 victory for Jang,
The second fixture of the tie saw a clash between Sharath Kamal and Lim Jonghoon. The latter outplayed his Indian opponent in four sets by 11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 11-4. The Indian team was trailing by 2-0 in the tie as a result and they were hoping for a comeback from Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.
However, the Indian campaign was to be foiled by the Korean storm soon. In the third match of the tie, Lee Sang Su showcased domination to defeat Sathiyan with 11-5, 11-8, 11-2 in three straight sets. A win might would have ensured Indian table tennis team's entry in Paris Olympics but they were blown away by mighty opponent.
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