Asian Cup table tennis: Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai get crucial wins

Shenzhen [China], February 20 (ANI): India had a mixed outing at Asian Cup 2025 table tennis in Shenzhen, China, as Sharath Kamal, Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai recorded wins while all three women's players registered losses.
Veteran Sharath Kamal, competing in men's Group 3, bounced back from his loss on the opening day with a dominant 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-7) win over Yemen's Ebrahim Gubran, as per Olympics.com.
Sharath Kamal, a five-time Olympian and India's top-ranked men's singles player at world number 43, now faces world number 31 Sora Matsushima of Japan in a crucial final group match on Thursday. The Indian table tennis player lost to world number three Liang Jingkun of China on Wednesday.
The men's and women's table tennis singles events at the Asian Cup 2025, being played at the Universiade Sports Center, follow the same format.
For Stage 1 of the competition, the 32 players have been divided into eight groups of four each. The top two from each group will advance to Stage 2, which will be played in a knockout format.
World No. 60 Manav Thakkar fought hard in a five-game thriller against Singapore's Izaac Quek and registered a 3-2 (6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-4) victory. Having lost his opener to Chinese Taipei's Lin Yun-ju, he now faces China's Chen Yuanyu in his final group fixture.
Harmeet Desai picked up a win in India's last match of the day, edging past Kazakhstan's Kirill Gerassimenko in a close contest.
The world No. 70 Indian table tennis player won 3-2 (11-7, 10-12, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11) and will next meet Kao Cheng-Jui of Chinese Taipei in his final group match.
In the women's events, world No. 29 Sreeja Akula put on a strong fight against China's world No. 1 Sun Yingsha, a five-time Olympic medallist, but went down 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-5) in Group 1.
The Paris 2024 Olympian, who won her opening match, will next take on Chien Tung-Chuan of Chinese Taipei.
Elsewhere, Ayhika Mukherjee fell to Thailand's Suthasini Sawettabut 3-0 (11-5, 12-10, 13-11) in Group 8 while Yashaswini Ghorpade was beaten by Thailand's Orawan Paranang, 3-2 (9-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5) in Group 5. Both players had lost their matches on the opening day on Wednesday.
Manika Batra, who won a bronze medal at the last edition in 2022, is not competing at this edition due to injury.
*Asian Cup 2025 table tennis: Day 2 India results
Men's singles
Sharath Kamal beat Ebrahim Abdulhakim Gubran (YEM) 11-6, 11-4, 11-7
Manav Thakkar beat Izaac Quek (SGP) 3-2 (6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-4)
Harmeet Desai beat Kirill Gerassimenko (KAZ) 3-2 (11-7, 10-12, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11)
Women's singles
Sreeja Akula lost to Sun Yingsha (CHN) 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-5)
Ayhika Mukherjee lost to Suthasini Sawettabut (THA) 3-0 (11-5, 12-10, 13-11)
Yashaswini Ghorpade lost to Orawan Paranang (THA) 3-2 (11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 7-11, 5-11). (ANI)