Indian paddlers crash out of China Open

New Delhi: Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal bowed out of the doubles event as India’s campaign in the Harmony China Open Table Tennis tournament ended in the opening round itself in Suzhou on Friday.

Sharath Kamal and his Swede partner Par Gerell, to whom the Indian lost in opening round of the singles competition, went down to the German pair of Patrick Baum and Bastian Steger 11-8 9-11 7-11 11-9 11-13 5-11 in the first round.With Sharath Kamal struggling, the rest of the Indians in the fray also cut a sorry figure. Soumyajit Ghosh lost 2-11 7-11 8-11 4-11 to China’s Ma Lin. In another men’s singles opening round match, Abishek Ravichandran 1-11 11-8 7-11 6-11 11-5 9-11 to Russia’s Fedor Kuzmin.In women’s draw, the lone Indian in the fray was Madhurika Patkar but her challenge did not last too long as she lost to Singapore’s Yu Mengyu 9-11 11-9 10-12 9-11 4-11 in the opening round. PTI