India's Sharath storms into quarters

New Delhi: Top Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal advanced to the quarterfinals of the Singapore Smash table tennis tournament with a 3-0 win over Omar Assar of Egypt in the men’s singles Round-of-16 in Singapore on Thursday.

Sharath won the pre-quarterfinal clash 11-4, 11-8, 12-10 to advance to the next round. Sharath ranked 88th in the world dominated the game right from the start with his attacking approach, giving no chance to World No.22 Omar. His trademark forehand topspin and backhand whiplash from the back of the table were in full flow in all three games.

Sharath was having trouble after falling behind 4–8 in the third game, but he managed to rally. The Indian hit a spectacular backhand whiplash down the line winner at 8-8.

Sharath then hit a strong forehand down-the-line winner at 10-10. Subsequently, Omar's return got into the net, paving the way for Sharath to advance to the quarterfinals.

Earlier, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sharath advanced to the Round of 16 of Singapore Smash for the first time after a thumping victory over World No.13 Darko Jorgic with a scoreline of 3-1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-9, on Wednesday.

Sharath is the lowest-ranked men’s singles paddler left in the braw. He will next meet the winner of the match between France’s Felix Lebrun and Kristian Karlsson of Sweden.

In the previous two editions of Singapore Smash, Sharath had bowed out in the first round.