WTT Star Contender: Batra's fine show highlights India's mixed day
One of the loudest cheers from the gentle sprinkling of spectators at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday came when, amid the sea of established names, Wesley Do Rosario walked into the arena. Do Rosario, the 21-year-old from Goa who represents Haryana in the domestic circuit, turned up at Table 1 as a wildcard taking on French world No. 54 Emmanuel Lebesson in the men's singles first round.
In the three other tables adjacent to the showpiece one, G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai were battling on Table 4 while Table 3 had Manika Batra and Archana Kamath playing their women's doubles opener.
That’s five Indians simultaneously on show in a prestigious international table tennis event.
The opening main draw round of the WTT Star Contender Goa—the first ever World Table Tennis (WTT) tournament hosted in India—presented this unprecedented sight at home. The kind even India’s top players aren’t used to.
“Towards the beginning of my singles, I was feeling a bit of pressure because, you know, home crowd tha,” Manika Batra, the country’s highest-ranked paddler at world No. 34, said.
Manika won all her three matches on the day, the women’s doubles win with Archana sandwiched between a 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-5) breeze past Tin-Tin Ho in singles and the mixed doubles Round of 16 win over Lim Jonghoon and Shin Yubin 3-1 (11-7, 11-6, 3-11, 11-6) alongside Sathiyan. It was a tricky mixed opening duel for the Indian duo which had lost to the 12th-ranked Koreans twice prior to this.
Sathiyan too came into the mixed tie with the singles win under his belt, edging past compatriot Desai 3-1 (11-4, 10-12, 13-11, 11-9) in a contest that grew as the games progressed. The country's top male paddler though played the big points and the crunch moments a bit better compared to Desai who was competing in his maiden Star Contender main draw match.
"I was expecting a close match. It was a good win to start off the tournament," said Sathiyan who will face world No. 22 Japanese Yukiya Uda on Thursday.
On the flipside, the veteran Sharath Kamal had a rather forgettable day. The Commonwealth Games champion was swept aside by 33rd-ranked Kirill Gerassimenko of Kazakhstan 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-8) in the final match of the opening day. Sharath and Sathiyan also lost their men's doubles opener 3-1 earlier to An Jaehyun and Cho Seungmin.
"My preparation for this tournament just wasn't upto the mark," Sharath, 40, said.
Among other notable results, CWG medallist Sreeja Akula, the India No. 2 in women's singles, went down to the fast-rising Egyptian teen Hana Goda 3-1 (2-11, 13-11, 8-11, 2-11).
Coaching assist?
In what raised a few eyebrows here, the all-India singles encounter between G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai had S Raman, the personal coach of the former, sit for the match in the coach’s box for Sathiyan. Desai’s box was empty.
Usually in international tournaments if two players from the same country face each other, coaches, including the national coach, refrain from sitting in the match. Raman was also the coach of the Indian contingent at last year's Commonwealth Games.
“It’s unfortunate that we played an Indian in India but he is my personal coach, so... if there is any policy change (from the national federation), we will definitely adhere to it," Sathiyan said. “There has never been a problem between me and Harmeet.”
It is learnt that the same also happened when Desai played Sathiyan in a tournament in Slovenia last year. “It was a bit odd but it wasn't a surprise. The last time it happened in Slovenia, it was a bit unsettling. But it's okay, that wasn't the reason for the loss," Desai said.
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