Sathiyan Gnanasekaran storms into the semi-final of Czech Open

The Indian paddler is yet to drop a game in the tournament.

Indian table tennis star Sathiyan Gnanasekaran looks in imperious touch in the ongoing ITTF Czech International Open. The 28-year-old won two matches on Tuesday at the Omega Sports Center in Olomouc, the Czech Republic to book his place in the semis.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran started the day with an emphatic 4-0 demolition of Sadi Ismailov. The Russian paddler was unable to find any rhythm, as his Indian opponent completely dominated the match straight from the beginning. Gnanasekaran's quarter-final clash had the same outcome.

Up against Saudi Arabia's Ali AlKhadrawi, the Indian didn't give his opponent any breathing space. Ultimately, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran again emerged victorious 4-0. Therefore, it is turning into a cakewalk for the top-seeded Indian so far at the Czech Open. However, he is likely to face stiffer competition from either Frenchman Lilian Bardet or Sweden's Truls Moregard in the semi-final.

In the women's singles category, it is Archana Kamath who went the farthest. 10th seed Kamath knocked out second-seed Chilean Paulina Vega 4-2 in the Round of 16. In her quarter-final clash, the Indian's opponent was eighth-seed Russian Mariia Tailakova. She started well by winning the first game but faded away after that. Kamath ultimately bowed out after a 4-2 defeat.

Defeat for young guns

Elsewhere, a couple of young Indian paddlers exited the competition. Manav Thakkar lost 4-2 to Saudi Arabia's Ali AlKhadrawi. Incidentally, the Saudi table tennis player was later defeated by Sathiyan Gnanasekaran. Promising Indian paddler Snehit Suravajjula had beaten second-seed Samuel Walker of England on Monday. However, he couldn't repeat the trick on Tuesday and succumbed to a 4-2 loss to Frenchman Leo De Nodrest.

In the women's singles, Sreeja Akula lost to Sweden's Linda Bergstrom. Bergstrom had suffered a shock first-round exit against another Indian table tennis player, Sutirtha Mukherjee, at the Tokyo Olympics. Thus, with a victory over fellow Indian Akula, Bergstrom will feel that she delivered a kind of revenge.

The men's doubles category witnessed a 3-1 victory for young Indian pair Snehit Suravajjula and Jeet Chandra in the quarter-finals. They defeated Saudi duo Ali Alkhadrawi and Abdulaziz Bu Shulaybi. However, they lost 3-2 to the English-Swedish duo of Samuel Walker and Truls Moregard in the semi-finals. The more experienced pair of Manav Thakkar and Sanil Shetty exited in the quarter-finals itself. They were no match for the French pairing Bastien Rembert and Vincent Picard in a 3-0 defeat.

The mixed doubles matches also brought no joy for the Indians. Both the Indian pairs lost by identical scorelines. Reeth Tennison and Sanil Shetty were the first to bite the dust. They lost 3-2 to Belarusian duo Aleksandr Khanin and Daria Trigolos. Archana Kamath and Manav Thakkar were also shown the exit door. They too suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat against Ukrainians Solomiya Brateyko and Anton Limonov.

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