New Delhi: The Indian men’s team finished fifth, its best ever results, after beating Hong Kong 3-1 in the ongoing 24th ITTF Asian Table Tennis Championships at Yogyakarta Wednesday. Concurrently, they also won gold in the 1st Division when they blanked Iran 3-0.
In the classification match for the fifth position, India tried out a new opening with Achanta Sharath Kamal who, after the initial struggle, managed to put it across Lam Siu Hang 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7, 11-7 to provide the lead.
In the second tie, Anthony Amalraj had it rather easy, in spite of losing the first game, as he 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. In the second and fourth games, which saw deuces, Sathiyan won the last on his second match-point.
Incidentally, Sathiyan was the lone Indian who did not lose a single match in team event matches, having played all matches from 1st Division to finishing fifth in the Champions Division, like Sharath did.
In the final of the 1st Division, Sharath opened again for India and downed Amin Ahmadin 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6 while both Sathiyan and Amalraj were stretched fully. Sathiyan beat Air Hossein Hodaei 6-11, 11-4, 10-12, 11-7, 12-10 while Amaraj accounted for Noshad Alamiyan 18-16, 5-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9 to win the yellow metal. The individual events begin Thursday.
