India's ace paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal got past two of his formidable opponents to help India enter the finals of the second division of the 2016 World Table Tennis Championships.
A place in the semi-finals booked, the man of the moment, Sharath Kamal led from the front again as India defeated Egypt 3-1 in the semifinals.
On the other hand, the Indian women showed great determination during their hard-fought 3-2 semi-final win against Serbia, a result that appeared to be in great doubt after the first two matches.
By entering the finals, both the men’s team and the women’s team secured promotion to the Championship Division.
Earlier, Soumyajit Ghosh failed again in the opening fixture as he went down against Omar Assar 11-5, 11-7, 11-4. Sharath Kamal was stretched by Mohamed El-Beiali 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 in the second match.
Harmeet Desai pulled off an upset of sorts when he beat El-Sayed Lashin in the third match of the fixture 12-14, 11-6, 14-12, 11-5.
With India leading 2-1, India's man of the moment, Sharath Kamal Achanta, did not disappoint as he accounted for Omar Assar 11-3, 12-10, 11-5 to seal India's entry in the Championship Division.
This is what the World No. 69 had to say after the match:
“It is like a dream come true for me and the team because by 2018 if I am still in the team, we will be playing in the Championship Division for the first time. This is awesome for us as a team because I can remember when we started our campaign to play in the elite division in Guangzhou, China in 2008, it was Egypt that stopped us then and also in 2014.”
The Indian men will take on Brazil who downed Serbia 3-1 in the other semifinal.
Indian women stage remarkable comeback
In the women’s Division Two, India started on a disastrous note against Serbia as both Mouma Das and national champion Manika Batra went down tamely in the first two games.
Mouma Das was beaten by Anamaria Erdelji 3-11, 11-4, 11-2, 11-1 and Manika Batra by Gabriela Feher 11-5, 12-10, 11-9.
Shamini Kumaresan accounted for Andrea Todorovic 11-6, 5-11, 11-5, 11-5 and Manika Batra followed by overcoming Anamarija Erdelji 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5.
Mouma Das completed the recovery in the decisive fifth game by beating Gabriela Feher 12-10, 11-8, 11-7. The Indian women thus defeated the Serbians 3-2 after being 0-2 down.
They will meet Luxemburg in the Second Division final. Luxemburg beat Croatia 3-2 in the other semifinal.
