Mumbai: Top seed Sathiyan Gnanasekaran led a strong Indian charge as three players in men’s singles and two in women’s singles made it to the Round of 16 at the ITTF Czech International Open in Olomouc, the Czech Republic on Monday.
Sathiyan, who had partnered Manika Batra to win the mixed doubles title at the WTT Contender Budapest last week, continued his superb run as he defeated local star Tomas Koldas 4-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-6, 11-5) at the Omega Sports Center.
He will be joined in the Round of 16 by compatriots Manav Thakker and Jeet Chandra. Thakkar beat Ukraine’s Viktor Yefimov 4-1 (11-4, 11-8, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8) to move to the round of 16, Chandra overcame Alexandre Robinot of France 4-2 (13-11, 11-9, 10-12, 8-11, 11-9,11-2).
In women’s singles, India’s Archana Kamath seeded 10th, was pushed hard by Marketa Sevcikova but the Indian came out on top 4-3 (11-7, 11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, 12-10) to move into the Round of 16. She will next face Chile’s Paulina Vega.
Compatriot Sreeja Akula also reached the women’s singles round of 16 after beating Katsiaryna Baravok of Belarus 4-0 (12-10, 12-10, 11-8, 13-11). She will next play Sweden’s, Linda Bergstrom.
Meanwhile, the Indians had some good results in other sections too.
Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath, both former top-ranked juniors, teamed up in the mixed doubles, where they beat Hungary’s Akos Kishegyi and Bernadett Balint 3-1 (13-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-7) to go through to the quarterfinals.
Indian pair Reeth Tennison and Sanil Shetty also moved to the mixed doubles quarterfinals after beating Belarus’ Pavel Platonov and Katsiaryna Baravok 3-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-6).
However, Jeet Chandra and Selena Selvakumar were knocked out of the mixed doubles as they lost 3-1 (11-9, 3-11, 11-13, 11-13) to local pair Tomas Martinko and Zdena Blaskova.
Both Indian pairs had come to the main draw through the qualifiers. The women’s doubles pairs of Reeth Tennison/Archana Kamath and Sreeja Akula/Selena Selvakumar also made it to the main draw qualifiers via the qualifiers.
In the men’s singles, India’s Snehit Suravajjula made it to the main draw through the qualifiers while Manush Shah was knocked out in the qualifying round.
