Yogyakarta: India's doubles pair of G. Sathiyan and A. Sharath Kamal entered the quarterfinals beating Mahfoodh Sayed Murtadha and Rashed Rashed of Bahrain 11-8, 11-6, 11-3 in the 24th ITTF Asian Table Tennis Championships, at Yogyakarta on Thursday.
In the quarterfinals, to be played on Friday, the Indian duo will take on the Chinese pair of Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan.
Earlier, after receiving a first-round bye, the Indians had accounted for Jordan's Abo Yaman Zaid and Aldmaizy Zeyad 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 in the round of 32.
But the other pair of Harmeet Desai and Anthony Amalraj, after enjoying a bye in the round of 64, fell to the Chinese Taipei pair of Liu Hsing-Yin and Peng Wang Wei in the next round in what was a tough fight. The Indians lost 11-5, 7-11, 11-3, 8-11, 6-11.
So was the case with both the Indian women pairs. Manika Batra and Archana Kamath had an easy Round of 64 outings beating the Kazak women Lavnova Anastassiya and Khusseinova Gulchekhra 3-0 before bowing out in the next round to Koreans Yang Haeun and Jeon Jhee 6-11, 9-11, 7-11.
Similarly, Madhurika Patkar and Sutirtha Mukherjee lost to Doo Hoi Kem and Lee Ho Ching of Hong Kong 9-11, 5-11, 11-13 after clearing the round of 64 hurdles against Macau's Tao Chong and Lei Wai Mei 3-0.
In the mixed event, Sharath and Manika and Sathiyan and Archana survived the first round but lost in the round of 32. Koreans Lee Sangsu and Jeo Jhiee accounted for Sharath and Manika 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 while Chinese Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha beat Sathiyan and Archana 11-7, 111-9, 13-11.
In the men's singles, Sharath, Sathiyan, Amalraj, Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar had all received first round byes and registered 3-0 wins over their rivals in the round of 128. Only Harmeet dropped a game against Panagitgun Yanapang of Thailand before overcoming him 11-9, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5. All of them play their round of 64 later on Thursday evening.
In the women's singles, Archana enjoyed a random bye in the round of 128 while the others had to play their first-round matches to enter the round of 64. Their matches, too, are scheduled for later on Thursday evening.
