Busan (South Korea): The Indian men's team beat Kazakhstan by 3-2 to advance into the Round 16 of the World Table Tennis Team Championships here on Wednesday.
Playing the first match of the tie, Harmeet Desai, ranked 71, suffered an 11-9, 10-12, 8-11, 11-7, 8-11 defeat against 40th ranked Gerssimenko Kirill. As India trailed 0-1 in the tie, seasoned Achanta Sharath Kamal pulled things back for India with comfortable victory over Kurmangaliyev Alan by 6-11, 7-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-9.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, ranked 102, registered a commanding victory over Kenzhigulov Aidos to put India in a 2-1 lead while playing the third match of the tie. Sathiyan, displaying his attacking approach, defeated Aidos 11-6, 5-11, 11-2, 11-7.
However, Kazakhstan, bounced back stronger to level the tie at 2-2, forcing it to enter into decider with Sharath Kamal going down to Kirill in his second match 4-11, 9-11, 11-6, 7-11.
As the tie was poised 2-2, Harmeet pulled his socks up to hand Alan an 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7 defeat, powering India to advance into next stage with nervy 3-2 win over Kazakhstan.
With the men's team's victory, both the Indian women's and men's teams will be in contention for a spot in the quarterfinals. If they win their respective ties in the last eight to be held later today, they will seal their spots in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
While the women's team faces Chinese Taipei's challenge, the Indian men's team have to play out of their skins against South Korea, who had blanked India 3-0 in the group stage.
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