World Table Tennis Championships: India men upset Germany; Women claim clean victory against Czech Republic

The men's team claimed an important victory in the group stage defeating World No. 2s.

It was a great day for the Indians with both the men's and women's teams notching up important group stage victories at World Table Tennis Championships. The performance of the men's team was top notch beating World No. 2 and Olympic silver medallist Germany 3-1. This should be one of the greatest wins in the history of Indian Table Tennis for the men's team.

Men's

India beat Germany (3-1)

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran was the star of the day beating Benedict Duda in the first game. Sathiyan was two sets down and was at the brink of a loss but out of nowhere came back to win the next three sets and gave India the all-important lead. In his next encounter against QUI Dang WR (8) Sathiyan came from behind after losing the initial two sets. The way he held his composure was a treat to watch.

This was Sathiyan Gnanasekaran's third win against the top 10 ranked players the other two being Harimoto of Japan and Jorgic from Slovenia.

Manav Vikas Takkar won the third encounter against higher-ranked WR 74 Walther Ricardo (3-1). Manav recently was not part of the CWG squad but came back stronger to play the all-important World Championships. Manav was the no1 in the U21 category and has a lot of potential to show at the senior level.

Harmeet Desai lost against Qui Dang (1-3) but put up a fight coming back to win the 3rd set. But Qui Dang was quick to recover and take the 4th set to finish the encounter.

Germany is without their experienced players Ovtcharov and Timo Boll.

Women's

India beat the Czech Republic (3-0)

Manika Batra came back stronger in the 2nd group game beating higher ranked WR 28 Hana Matelova (3-1). Manika needed this win to make her feel stronger after a poor season. In the next encounter Sreeja Akula Marketa Sevcikova (3-0). This was Sreeja's 2nd win at the World Championships out of the three games she has played.

Diya Chitale beat Katerina Tomanovska in a tough battle lasting 4 sets (3-1). Diya lost the opening set but fought hard in the next three sets. With this win, Diya keeps the win record at 100 per cent at the World Championships winning both her games.