Asian Championships | G Sathiyan bows out in quarter-final
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran’s brilliant run at the Asian Championships finally came to an end on Friday evening as the paddler was eventually humbled by China’s Lin Gaoyuan. Apart from G. Sathyan, India also saw Ayhika Mukherjee’s stunt end in the pre-quarters against World No. 2 Ding Ning of China.
Hours after creating history created brief history as he became only the second Indian paddler to reach the last eight of the Asian continental event after Sudhir Phadke did it back in 1976, when Sathiyan got the better of North Korea's An Ji Song 11-7, 11-8, 11-6, the Indian paddler ran out of fuel against Gaoyuan.
His super run in the ITTF-ATTU Asian table tennis championships came to a screeching halt on Friday against the World no. 4 as he lost 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8 in the men's singles quarterfinals. "I am extremely happy and elated to reach the quarters in the prestigious event. It has been a wonderful journey and I would really love to set the bar high for Indian table tennis...," said Sathiyan, reported Sportstar
Not only Sathiyan, but the Indian paddling contingent also saw Ayhika Mukherjee losing to 11-5, 11-13, 11-4, 11-9 in the women's pre-quarterfinals. A lot was expected from her after she had emerged victorious against Mongolia’s Batbayar Doljinzuu 11-6, 11-7, 11-3 in the previous round.
The results:
Men (Quarterfinals): G. Sathiyan lost to Lin Gaoyuan (Chn) 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8; (round of 16): Sathiyan bt An Ji Song (DPR) 11-7, 11-8, 11-6; (round of 32): Sathiyan bt Noshad Alamiyan (IRI) 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-5; A. Amalraj lost to Chen Chien-An (Tpe) 11-6, 11-6, 11-8; Manav Thakkar lost to Cheg-Ting Liao (Tpe) 11-9, 11-6, 11-3.
Women: (round of 16): Ayhika Mukherjee lost to Ding Ning (Chn) 11-5, 11-13, 11-4, 11-9; (round of 32): Ayhika bt Batbayar Doljinzuu (MGL) 11-6, 11-7, 11-3; Archana Kamath lost to Feng Tianwei (SGP) 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4; Manika Batra lost to Kasumi Ishikawa (Jpn) 11-9, 11-8, 11-4; Sutirtha Mukherjee lost to Jihee Jeon (Kor) 14-12, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5; Madhurika Patkar lost to Hitomi Sato (Jpn) 11-6, 11-9, 11-4.
Men's doubles (quarterfinals): Sharath Kamal & Sathiyan lost to Jingkun Liang & Lin Gaoyuan (CHn) 11-6, 10-12, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7.
