Table Tennis
WTT Feeder Budapest: Ayhika Mukherjee enters quarters, Sharath Kamal bows out
Ayhika Mukherjee is the only Indian paddler remaining in the fray as she entered the quarters of the WTT Feeder European Summer Series 2022. Sharath Kamal lost his Round of 16 clash to a French teenager.
FILE PHOTO: Ayhika Mukherjee is into the quarters of the WTT Feeder European Summer Series 2022
Ayhika Mukherjee remains the last Indian paddler standing in the WTT Feeder European Summer Series 2022 being held in Budapest from 18th to 22nd July. Mukherjee put up a dominating performance in her Round of 16 clash and stormed into the quarter-finals of the women's singles, defeating World No. 61 Chinese Taipei's Liu Hsing-Yin 4-1 (11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 12-10).
Earlier in the day, Ayhika defeated another higher-ranked player from Hong Kong China, Lee Ho Ching, in a tight clash. Ayhika, ranked at World No. 116 played a solid match against the World No. 52 paddler in an encounter that was just eight minutes shy of touching the one-hour mark at 52 minutes. Ayhika eventually had the last word, winning 4-2 (12-10, 4-11, 8-11, 11-6, 9-11, 10-12).
Ayhika Mukherjee in action at the WTT Feeder Budapest (Source: Flickr/WTT)
Ayhika, a 2019 Commonwealth champion, will take on Japan's Honoka Hashimoto next for a place in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, veteran Sharath Kamal couldn't convert his pre-quarterfinal match into a win and lost 4-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-6, 16-14) to 15-year-old Felix Lebrun, despite putting up a solid fight.
In the Round of 32 clash, Kamal, ranked World No. 38, had it easy against Japan's Yuta Tanaka and defeated him 4-1 (3-11, 11-8, 5-11, 9-11, 12-14) to set up his date with the World No. 69 Felix Lebrun for a place in the quarters of the WTT Feeder Budapest event.
Sharath Kamal, after this, will be heading to Birmingham to contest in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the men's singles, men's doubles (with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran) and mixed doubles (with Sreeja Akula) next.
