After impressive run, Sharath Kamal goes down to 13yearold

NEW DELHI: Achanta Sharath Kamal’s dream run in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour event ended late on Saturday as he went down 4-2 to Japanese 13-year-old world junior champion Tomokazu Harimoto.

Earlier, Sharath Kamal, 34, had registered a 4-3 victory over England’s 14-year-old Paul Drinkhall to reach the semis.

With only three hours between the quarters and semis, Sharath Kamal had acknowledged it would be tough.

After the quarters, the seasoned Indian player said it was very exhausting mentally and physically.

“I had virtually lost the match in my mind, but the scoreboard was going in my favour. It was a tactical match. At times Paul increased the pace and sometimes slowed down. It was difficult to read him.’’

Sharath Kamal, a seven-time national champion, raced to 11-4 win in the first game, but eventually needed 67 minutes. He pinned faith in his defensive game to outwith his young rival.

The Japanese teenager began controlling the pace and his heavy spin made things difficult for Sharath Kamal.

However, in the decider, the teenager faded at crucial moments, and Sharath Kamal’s experience showed. In the other semifinal, top seed Dimitrij Ovtchrov of Germany defeated third seed Koki Niwa of Japan 4-3.

In the women’s semifinal, Matida Ekholm of Sweden upset top seed Kem Hoi Doo of Hong Kong 4-2. She will face winner of the other semifinal between Nam Wing NG of Hong Kong and Sakura Mori of Japan.