Sharath Kamal gets easy draw in TT Olympic qualifier

Doha: India's ace paddler and World No.83 Achanta Sharath Kamal has been handed a easy draw but his compatriot Anthony Amalraj and the Indian women may not be so lucky in the Table Tennis World Olympic Qualification Championships starting here Thursday.

Sharath Kamal is assured of making it to the second stage since he is the highest rated player in Group 7 that also has Andrew Baggaley of England (138), Slovakian Jan Zibrat (215) and Kirill Gerassimenko (561) from Kazakhstan.

World No.165 Amalraj has been placed in Group 2 alongside Emmanuel Lebesson from France, Taipei's Wu Chi Chi and Vladislav Sorbalo from Moldova. Amalraj is in the third place in the group behind Lebesson and Wu Chi.

In the women's draw, national champion Poulomi Ghatak and Kumaresan Shamini were placed in Group 5 and 8 respectively.

Both the Indians are top-ranked players in their groups. Ghatak will run into Elena Timina (121) of the Netherlands while Shamini will have to overcome Joanna Parker of England, ranked 129th in the world.

Coach Bhawani Mukherjee said all his players are happy with the draw and that he expected them to make it to the next stage.

But he said he was worried with the girls, who he felt have to play their best as only two top players move into the second stage in both categories.

"The draws are definitely easy and the players are confident of good performances. Both the men paddlers should have little difficulty in reaching stage two but the girls will have to really do well to move forward," he said.

Nine Olympic slots in the men's section and six in women's category are up for grabs in this tournament.