G Sathiyan qualifies for main draw of World Table Tennis Championship

G Sathiya will take on Sweden’s Gerell Par `

Suzhou (China), April 28 (IANS): India's G. Sathiyan continued his good show in the World Table Tennis Championships and qualified for the men's singles main draw here on Tuesday.

Sathiyan, ranked 188 in the world, beat Chilean Felipe Olivares 11-7, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4 in the final qualifying round to earn a place in the main draw. However, a tougher opponent awaits Sathiyan as he takes on Sweden's World No.64 Gerell Par in the first round.

Sanil Shetty, who had also entered the last round of the qualifiers, bowed out to higher ranked Elia Schmid of Switzerland after leading at one stage. Sanil lost 12-10, 13-15, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 13-15, 9-11.

India's top ranked player Sharath Kamal will take on lower ranked Park Sin Hyok of North Korea in the first round.

The women players have their task cut out with all of them taking on higher ranked opponents in the first round.

Mouma Das, who at 172 is the highest ranked Indian player, will face 69th ranked Mikhailova Polina of Russia while K. Shamini, who qualified for the main draw on Monday, will meet 69th ranked Lithuanian Ruta Paskaukiene. Manika Batra, ranked 803, will meet 36th ranked Hirano Miu of Japan.

The Indian doubles pairs of Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan and Soumyajit Ghosh and Sanil Shetty are drawn against higher ranked opponents. Mouma and Shamini will figure in women's doubles while Manika Batra is partnering Australian Lay Jian Fang.