Los Angeles, June 29: In a thrilling first-round match at the World Table Tennis (WTT) US Smash, India’s Human Thakkar triumphed over France’s Flavien Coton with a score of 3-2. However, fellow Indian player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran could not progress past the first round.
Thakkar started strong, winning the first game 12-10, but lost the second game by the same score (10-12). He made a comeback, clinching the match with scores of 12-10, 10-12, 11-7, 7-11, and 11-7.
On the other hand, Sathiyan managed to save a match point in the third game but ultimately lost to Japan’s Yuta Tanaka 3-0 (5-11, 7-11, 10-12) in their first-round encounter held at the Ontario Convention Center on Sunday.
Among other Indian players, Yashaswini Ghorpade will begin her campaign against third seed Yuling Zhu from Macau (China), while Manika Batra is set to face Japanese wildcard Sakura Yokoi in another Round of 64 match.
Top Indian singles player and Olympian Shrija Akula will compete against South Korea’s 16th seed Cheon-Hui Joo in the Round of 64. Additionally, the mixed doubles pair of fifth seed Manush Shah and Dhiya Chitale will start their campaign against American wildcard duo Jishan Liang and Sally Moyland.
In women’s doubles, the seventh-seeded pair of Ghorpade and Chitale will kick off their campaign on Tuesday. Human Thakkar will also face world number one Wang Chuqin in the men’s singles. In men’s doubles, fifth seed Thakkar and Manush Shah will await their next opponents in the Round of 16.
Wang Chuqin secured his place in the next round of the men’s singles ‘Last 32’ by defeating his teammate Zhou Kihao in straight games.
Chinese players Lin Shidong and Chen Yuanyu also advanced to the ‘Last 32’ in men’s singles. Lin defeated South Korea’s Park Gang-Hyeon 11-5, 11-2, 11-6, while Chen overcame local wildcard player Nandan Naresh with scores of 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, and 11-4.
In a surprising turn, Lin Yun-Ju from Chinese Taipei, seeded seventh, was eliminated in the first round by his compatriot Kuo Guan-Hong after a five-game match.
In women’s singles, China’s second seed Wang Manyu defeated 15-year-old American player Irene Yeoh 11-5, 11-3, 11-4, with her teammates Kuaiman and Shi Shunyao also reaching the ‘Last 32’.
Both Chinese and American pairs were eliminated in the first round of men’s doubles. Jiu Fei and Kanak Jha faced a 3-1 defeat against China’s Yuan Lishen and Wen Ruibo, while Bosman Botha and Kin Yuxuan were defeated by local pair Naresh and Jessica Reyes Lai in three games.
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RSG
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