TT Worlds: Sreeja defeat only blip as India taste plenty of success

Doha, May 17 (PTI) India number one Sreeja Akula crashed out in the first round but the country's contingent enjoyed plenty of success in other matches with Diya Chitale and Manush Shah progressing to the second round of women's and men's singles competitions in the table tennis World Championships here on Saturday.

The Mukherjee duo -- Ayhika and Sutirtha -- and the pairing of Diya and Yashaswini Ghodpade also won their respective women's doubles opening matches on the first day of the premier tournament.

The Indian pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah too tasted success in their first round men's doubles match.

An error-prone Akula lost to Thailand's Suthasini Sawettabut 1-4 (11-9 8-11 6-11 5-11 2-11) rather tamely.

It was a disappointing outing for the Indian as she made an early exit after losing to the world number 84.

Sreeja won the opening game, but after that, lost her momentum, dropping innumerable points and making unforced errors to go down in just 33 minutes.

The Indian contingent though had plenty to smile about as Asian Games medallists Ayhika and Sutirtha beat the Turkish pair of Ozge Yilmaz and Ece Harac 3-2 (4-11 11-9 10-12 11-9 11-7) in a five-game thriller.

The result meant that the Indian pair ended a six-match losing streak while progressing to the next round of the ITTF World Championships.

Diya and Yashaswini advanced with a win over Uzbekistan's Magdieva and Erkebaeva 3-1 (9-11 11-2 11-9 11-8).

They started off on the wrong note and lost the opening game by a close margin but bounced back to win the next three games and confirm their place in second round.

The Indian duo of Thakkar and Shah continued their good form this season with a straight-game win over Slovenia's Deni Kozul and Peter Hribar. They won 3-0 (11-7 11-8 11-6).

Later in the evening, Shah began his men's singles campaign with a 4-2 (11-6 2-11 11-7 11-6 5-11 11-6) win over Portugal's Tiago Apolonia.

Youngster Diya progressed to the second round with a straight-game 4-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-3, 14-12) win over Spain's Sofia-Xuan Zhang. PTI AH PDS AH TAP