Table Tennis
Sharath Kamal crashes out in semi-final of WTT Contender Doha 2022
The 39-year-old put in an exceptional performance throughout the tournament and narrowly lost in the semi-final
At the ongoing WTT Contender being in Doha, Qatar, the Indian table tennis team has been putting up some fine performances. Apart from the mixed doubles duo of Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Sharath Kamal has also been brilliant and reached the semi-finals of the Men's Singles event.
The 39-year Indian veteran got the better of Tomislav Pucar in straight sets to reach the SF with a score of 11-8,11-7,11-4. Sharath Kamal continues to maintain consistency in his career and the WTT Doha Contender is another tournament for him to go all the way and claim the title.
He was to then face Yuan Licen of China in the final, a 246 ranked player who had already defeated Sharath Kamal on Monday. Sharath had suffered a defeat with a score of 11-5, 11-6, 14-12.
The match began with Sharath losing the first game 11-5. He had maintained a decent scoreline before Yuan surged ahead and claimed the first game. The second game saw a marked improvement as Sharath tied it at 5-5 before going on with a similar scoreline at 7-7. He then managed a breakthrough at the game point and won the second game by 11-8. Yuan Lien took matters into his own hands in the third game and started with a 5-3 lead. He surged ahead and claimed this game with ease with a score of 11-6. This put him into a 2-1 lead overall.
Sharath Kamal however was in no mood to give up easily and took a 5-2 lead within 2 minutes of the fourth game. Yuan made it 6-7 in his favour and was aiming to seal the match in the fourth game. However, Sharath Kamal had the last laugh in the game as he came away with an 11-7 win. It was a 2-2 tie between the two paddlers as the duo entered the fifth game.
Sharath Kamal was successful again in keeping Yuan at bay and surged ahead with a 9-5 lead in the fifth game. This was an important game as he had to take a lead in the overall score and managed to do so with a well-worked defensive play against Yuan. Heading into the sixth game, the Indian needed just one more game victory to seal his place in the final. However, Yuan made it 3-3 despite Sharath fighting back in the final few points of the game to eventually lose 12-10.
The do or die seventh game began with both players going neck to neck with scores going from 4-4 to 6-5 and then 7-7. Yuan took a 10-8 lead that resulted in him sealing the match point with a final game score of 11-9 and an overall score of 4-3.
