Table Tennis World Championships: Indian paddlers struggle to make a mark on Day 1

Day 1 of the World Table Tennis Championships concluded with a relatively lackluster display from India. There were only 3 victories out of 9 matches that were played in the three different categories. We take a brief look at all that went down at the George R Brown Convention Centre in Houston. 

Women's Singles

There were a total of 4 Indian players in action on Day 1. Manika Batra lost by a set score of 4-3 to Brazilian paddler Bruna Takahashi. She won the first 2 sets 11-5,13-11 but then lost out the next three sets and the decider at the end as well. Ayika Mukherjee managed to script a win by a score of 4-2 and was the only female paddler to win her match on Day 1. Olympian Sutirtha Mukherjee lost 4-1 to Choi Hyojoo of South Korea while Madhurika Patkar lost in straight sets to Japanese player Saki Shibata. 

Men's Singles

The men's team did not have a favorable day as well as only one paddler managed to win on Day 1. Sathiyan Gnanasekaran won his first match with a set score of 4-0. However, Sharath Kamal was in for a surprise as he lost to Belgian paddler Cedric Nuytinck by a score of 4-1. He initially won the first set but lost four consecutive sets after that to lose the match. Harmeet Desai had a similar case as he lost 4-0 to another Belgian named Benedikt Duda. It was Amalaraj Anthony who had an agonizing end when he lost 4-3 in set scores. Amalraj rallied from behind to take the set score lead twice but lost out in the decider set by a score of 11-6.

Mixed Double's

Sharath Kamal and Archana Kamath won their first match by a set score of 3-0 over their Algerian opponents. They managed to come away with a dominative display of 11-7, 11-6, 11-6.