File photo of Indian paddlers Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar.© AFP
Veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal showed resistance but India suffered a 0-3 loss to mighty China in the pre-quarterfinals, which also ended their campaign in the men’s table tennis team event at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday. Indian duo of Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar lost the opening doubles match 2-11 3-11 7-11 to the Chinese pair of Ma Long and Chuqin Wang. Playing Olympic champion Fan Zhendong in the first singles, Sharath took the first game 11-9 with a superlative display.
But the Chinese regrouped to outwit the Indian 11-7 11-7 11-5 in the next three games as India fell 0-2 behind in the tie.
The 24-year-old Manav then played the second singles but found the going tough against Chuqin, losing 9-11 6-11 9-11.
On Monday, the Indian women’s team comprising Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamat, prevailed over higher-ranked Romania 3-2 in a thrilling tie to enter the quarterfinals.
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