Chengdu (China): The Indian men’s table tennis team crashed out of the ITTF World Team Championships Finals 2022 in the round of 16 after a 0-3 loss to top seeds and hosts China, here on Thursday.
National Games 2022 winner Harmeet Desai lost the first game to the world No 1 Fan Zhendong 0-3 (2-11, 9-11, 5-11) despite looking good in the second game.
India’s top-ranked men’s player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran tried pulling back the momentum against world No 2 Ma Long in the second match. However, after losing the opening game closely, he couldn’t recover and lost 0-3 (12-14, 5-11, 0-11).
Later, playing his first match in the tournament, Manush Shah was up against world No. 11 Wang Chuqin in the third rubber. He too lost his match 0-3 (4-11, 5-11, 6-11) in straight games.
The Indian men’s table tennis team had advanced to the round of 16 winning three of their four matches in the group stages, including a memorable win over second seeds Germany.
Earlier, the Indian women’s team crashed out of the world championships after losing 0-3 to Chinese Taipei in the round of 16 on Wednesday.
(IANS)
