INDIAN PADDLERS CREATE MAJOR UPSET AT AUSTRALIAN OPEN

INDIAN PADDLERS SPORTS UPDATES

Stellar Performances from Indians at 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum Australian Open

In run up to the much anticipated Ultimate Table Tennis, Indian Paddlers have proved their worth at 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum Australian Open. Staged at the Gold Coast, the Australian Open is one of the most premium Table Tennis World Tour event.

In Mens Singles,  India had 4 players in fray & all started from Qualifications -Harmeet Desai(Rank 81), Sathiyan Gnanasekaran(Rank 102), Anthony Amalraj(Rank 129), Sanil Shetty(Rank 200).

Sanil Shetty, ranked lowest among the Indian male paddlers caused the most hullabaloo. He was quite a revelation this tournament. The 28 year old staged a major upset to conclude his group phase matches unbeaten and thus topped the qualifications & entered the main draw with a thrust. Enroute to his qualification, he defeated Finland’s Benedek Olah, the winner last year on the ITTF World Tour in Lagos.

Sanil's compatriots Harmeet Desai, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Amalraj Anthony all concluded their group matches unbeaten and thus reserved their places in the main event. All four Indian male paddlers qualified, thus highlighting the growth and progress that the Indian Table Tennis has made in the last 10 months.

They continued their intense form into the competition, as both Sanil and Gnanasekaran completed major upsets against players ranked much higher than them in the round of 32 stage.

Sanil Shetty defeated Jang Woojin,(WR 34, 13th Seed) of Korea, winner of last year ITTF World Tour in Belarus. In a space of two days, Sanil thus defeated 2 players who last year had won ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles titles. Sathiyan Gnanasekaran defeated Chen Chien An(WR 36, 14th Seed) of Taipei with an identical score line of 4-2. Anthony Amalraj went down fighting 3-4 to Oshima Yuya(Rank 26, 10th Seed) of Japan. Anthony won first 3 sets to make it 3-0, but then went down 4 sets at a stretch to the higher ranked opponent. In R16, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran lost 3-4 after fighting with all might against an ace opponent in form of 6th Seed & WR 16, Gauzy Simon of France 7-11,7-11,11-7,11-7,7-11,11-8,8-11. It was a roller coaster match with Gnanasekaran's much higher ranked opponent making it 2-0 after straight 2 set wins. Sathiyan came back strong winning the next 2 sets & drawing level 2-2. It was then 1 set each & the game went to the decider set 3-3. Simon just edged out Sathiyan in the last set after a high adrenaline match of 7 sets.

In Mens Doubles too, India showed their grit and determination.

In Pre-Quarters, Harmeet Desai & Anthony Amalraj went down 2-3 to 2nd seed Chinese Taipei Pair of Chen Chien An & Chiang Hung. Desai and Amalraj started off well making it 2-0 after 2 sets, but couldn't keep their momentum & going down 2-3 eventually. 

The other Indian pair of Gnanasekaran and Sanil  had a dominating win of 3-1 over crowd favourite Australian pair .But in QF they went down to 3rd seed Japanese pair of Yoshimura & Ueda Jin.

In Womens Singles, none of the Indian players could make it to the main draw, but Womens Doubles saw spirited performances from pair of Sutirtha Mukherjee(Rank 228) & Pooja Sahasrabudhe(Rank 265). They got a walkover from 3rd seed Taipei pair in pre-quarters & in QF they thrashed 8th Seed Aussie pair of Lay Jian & Miao 3-1. But they couldn't go past Top Seed Chinese Pair of Chen Meng & Zhu Yuling, thus ensuring Bronze for the country.

Overall, a very satisfying performance from the Indian paddlers in this year's Platinum Australian Open.