Sharath-Sathiyan reach Asian Table Tennis Championship quarters

Sutirtha and Ayhika Mukherjee also reached the last eight in the women's doubles.

India's ace table tennis stars Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran qualified for the men's doubles quarterfinals with a 3-2 victory at the Asian Table Tennis Championship, at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar on Saturday.

The experienced Indian pair were up against Kazakh duo Kirill Gerassimenko and Alan Kurmangaliyev in the Round of 16. The Indian duo started well to win the first two games. However, Gerassimenko and Kurmangaliyev weren't ready to give up without a fight.

They came storming back into the contest to win two consecutive games to take the match into a decider. In the fifth and decisive game, it was the Indians who started on the front foot and displayed their superiority. They eventually went on to clinch the game 3-2 and the match with a 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 11-7 scoreline.

Harmeet Desai and Manav Vikash Thakkar represented India in another men's doubles match at the Asian Table Tennis Championship. They faced Saudi Arabia's Naif Al-Jadai and Abdulaziz Al-Abbad in the Round of 16. Harmeet and Manav comfortably won all three games to move on to the quarterfinals. In reality, the Saudis didn't put up much resistance against the Indians. Harmeet and Manav won 11-4, 11-9, 11-9.

Mixed day for women's pairs

In the women's doubles category, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee secured a stunning victory over Chinese Taipei's Chen Szu-yu and Li Yu-Jhun. The Indian women won the contest in 31 minutes by a margin of 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9 to confirm a spot in the last eight of the Asian Table Tennis Championship.

On the other hand, Archana Girish Kamath and Sreeja Akula faced contrasting fates. They lost against Hong Kong's Lee Ho Ching and Doo Hoi Kem 10-12, 7-11, 12-10, 13-15.

Elsewhere, in the men's singles category, a trio of Indian paddlers tasted success on Saturday. Harmeet Desai, Manav Vikash Thakkar and Sanil Shetty all reached the Round of 64 with convincing wins.

Harmeet defeated Qatar's Ahmed Alawlaqi in straight games 11-7, 11-6, 11-5. Manav also got the better off Fahed Almughanne of Qatar in straight games with a scoreline of 13-11, 11-4, 11-5.

However, Sanil Shetty had to work harder to get over the line in his match-up against Jaber Al-Balhan of Kuwait. He lost the second game, but composed himself to advance to the next round of the Asian Table Tennis Championship by winning 11-6, 5-11, 11-6, 11-6.

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