Sathiyan Gnanasekaran clinches Czech Open title

The Indian paddler won the tournament without dropping a single game.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran displayed his sheer class as he won the Czech Open title in style on Wednesday. The Indian table tennis star defeated fourth-seed Yevhen Pryschepa in the final of the competition. He began strongly before facing tough resistance in the fourth game. However, it was too little too late from the Ukrainian.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran came out on top with a scoreline of 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 14-12 in the match. He won the first three games easily before Pryschepa put up a tough fight in the last game. At one point, it looked like the table tennis match would go to a fifth game. However, the 28-year-old showed great poise to take the fourth game and with it the Czech Open title.

The Indian table tennis star had begun the day with a victory over Truls Moregard of Sweden in the semi-finals. It was another routine outing for Sathiyan Gnanasekaran as he stormed to win the first three games 11-4, 11-8, 11-2. Ultimately, Moregard conceded an injury defeat to the Indian paddler.

Winning with absolute dominance

It must be said that Gnanasekaran has had an excellent competition at the Omega Sports Center in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Currently world no. 39, the he was the top seed in Czech Open and was the favourite to win the men’s singles title. He certainly lived up to that reputation. Earlier in the competition, he had picked up 4-0 victories over Tomas Koldas of the Czech Republic, Russian Sadi Ismailov and Ali AlKhadrawi of Saudi Arabia. Thus, he clinched the Czech Open crown without dropping any game.

This was the second ITTF tournament in August, with several tournaments being cancelled owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Sathiyan Gnanasekaran had recently paired up with Manika Batra in the mixed doubles event at the WTT Contender Budapest. The Indian duo gave a fine account of themselves, as they ousted home favourites Dora Madarasz and Nandor Ecseki 3-1 in the final. Therefore, Gnanasekaran is continuing the winning momentum this season.

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