MOHALI: THE Indian men’s table tennis team finished fifth, their second-best showing at the competition, after beating Hong Kong 3-1 at the ongoing 24th ITTF Asian Table Tennis Championships at Yogyakarta on Wednesday. They blanked Iran 3-0 which gave them gold in the 1st Division. India’s best showing was back in 1996 when they finished fourth.
In the classification match for the fifth spot, India opened with A Sharath Kamal for a change. After struggling initially, he got the better of Lam Siu Hang 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-7 to provide the lead. In the second rubber, Anthony Amalraj, in spite of losing the first game, beat NG Pak Nam 9-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-7 while in the third singles, G Sathiyan, defeated Kwan Man Ho 11-5, 11-13, 11-7, 14-12.
Incidentally, Sathiyan was the lone Indian who did not lose a single match in team event matches, having played all matches. “It is a creditable performance but we need to keep at it. We have showed we mean business and it is all about improving even more,” he told this daily. “The entire team is improving. With the Olympic qualifiers around the corner (in January), we need to continue this momentum. Training well in the months to come is also going to be crucial.”
Sathiyan’s win over Tomokazu Harimoto, the World No 5, came in for deserved praise from foreign coach, Brett Clarke. “It is a great result for the boys. A huge shot in the arm and now the team needs to focus on improving even more. Sathiyan’s 3-0 win over World No 5 just shows how close we are.”