Table Tennis
WTT Feeder Beirut: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran clinches men's singles title
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran got better than compatriot Manav Thakkar in the final of men's singles to win the title at WTT Feeder.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran clinched the men's singles title at WTT Feeder Beirut, getting better of compatriot Manav Vikas Thakkar in the final on Thursday.
He took a four-game (6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4) victory over higher-ranked youngster Manav in the final to win this title. Earlier, he had a win over another player Harmeet Desai.
Sathiyan started a little slowly in front of Manav's forward smashes and dropped the first game 6-11. He quickly bounced back in the game to take the second game after a few unforced errors from Manav.
Sathiyan didn't look back and and increased the pace of the match under which Manav felt clueless and lost three games on the trot to end the tournament as runner-up.
Manav had a heartbreaking day as he missed out on any gold medal despite making it in all three finals. He lost 1-3 to a Cuban pair in the men's doubles final partnering Manush Utpal Shah.
Earlier, he lost in the mixed doubles final to another Indian pair of Diya Chitale and Manush Shah.
However, Indian paddlers had an overall very good outing at the tournament making it to the three finals including two all-Indian finals in men's singles and mixed doubles categories.
Indian paddlers finished the tournament with two titles and three runner-ups finish.