World TT Team C'ships: Indian men upset Germany, Women's team beat Czech

Star paddler G Sathiyan won both his singles, including the one against world number 9 Dang Qiu, to script India's stunning 3-1 win over second seeds Germany in the group stage of the World Table Tennis Championships here on Sunday.

World number 37 Sathiyan won two gruelling deciders, first against 36th ranked Duda Benedikt (11-13, 4-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-9) before edging out Germany's highest-ranked player Qiu (10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9).

In both matches, Sathiyan staged a strong fightback after losing the first two games.

"The match against Qiu was definitely much tougher. He is a top-10 player. It was a high-quality match as well," Sathiyan told PTI.

India number 2 Harmeet Desai had lost the second singles to Qui 1-2 (7-11, 9-11, 13-11, 3-11) before Manav Thakkar helped his team go 2-1 up with a 3-1 (13-11, 6-11, 11-8, 12-10) win over higher-ranked Ricardo Walther.

The 17th-ranked India had beaten Uzbekistan in their opening group game on Saturday. They need to finish in the top two to advance to the pre-quarterfinals.

In the women's draw, India recorded their first win of the group stage with a 3-0 result over the Czech Republic.

Manika Batra returned to winning ways after losing both games in India's loss to Germany. She defeated Hana Matelova 3-1 (11-6, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10) in the first game.

Sreeja Akula backed up her superb performance against Germany and defeated Markela Sevcikova in the second game in straights 3-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-8) to give India the advantage.

Youngster Diya Chitale continued her fine form defeating Katerina Tomanovska by 3-1 (11-13, 15-13, 12-10, 14-12) to give India their first win at the tournament.

After two games, Indian men stand third and Indian women are placed second in their respective groups.

(With PTI Inputs)