India’s Sharath loses in Asian TT pre-quarters

Wuxi (China), April 15: Veteran paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal bowed out in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals to end Indias campaign at the Asian Championships here on Saturday.

The 34-year-old Indian lost to Lam Siu Hang of Hong Kong 2-3 (6-11, 11-9, 9-11, 14-12, 10-12) after waging a spirited fight.

Though Sharath began on a bad note losing his first game rather quickly, the Indian made amends and came back strongly against the Hong Kong paddler, who exacted revenge in a similar fashion winning the third game with minimal points to go 2-1 up.

A more determined Sharath was attacking well on his backhand and almost cornered his opponent by saving two matches to level the score 2-2 with a 14-12 win in the fourth game.

Rattled as he was, the Hong Kong paddler kept a slender lead in the decider and in spite of Sharath managing to deuce at 10-10, Lam took the next two crucial points, one each on his own serve and once breaking Sharath's to enter the quarter-finals.