Sharath-Saha beat second-seed Lin-Zhang in Asian Table Tennis Championships

Macau: The Indian pair of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Subhajit Saha caused the biggest upset of the Championships so far when they beat second-seeded Chinese pair of Ma Lin and Zhang Jike in straight games in the second round of the Asian Table Tennis Championships here this morning.

They will now take on the Macau duo of Leong Kin Wa and Che ChiPan, who overcame a stiff resistance from the Iranian pair of Alamiyan Noshad and Lotfollah Nasabi 3-2, in the pre-quarterfinals which are slated for tomorrow.

The other Indian pair of A Amalraj and Sanil Shetty too progressed to round of 16 beating the Thai duo of Chaitat Chaisit and Wongsiri Nikom 3-2 (13-11, 8-11, 5-11, 11-7, 13-7). They will meet the Chinese pair of Ma Long and Wang Hao in the next round.

The talk of the championships on the day was the way both Sharath and Saha stunned the Chinese pair—Lin is the reigning Olympic champion while Jike is the current world champion—after a not-so-good outing by Sharath who had lost all his three games in the team event earlier.
The Indians put up a gritty performance to win 11-2, 11-9, 11-5 and left the East Asia Games Dome in a much better frame of mind. “It was our best day. I had to make amends for the loss in the team event,” said an elated Sharath.

The same pair had previously proven what they are capable of at crunch situations. Past masters at causing surprises, they won gold in 2009 Commonwealth Championships at Glasgow and in October 2010 at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. On both occasions, they had beaten top seeds and favourites Singapore’s Gao Ning and Yang Zi in the final.