World Team TT Championships: India outclass Kazakhstan, stay unbeaten

By V Shashank

Oct 03, 2022

08:34 pm

What's the story

The Indian men's team has been a force to reckon with in the concurrent World Team Table Tennis Championships in China.

India, positioned in Group 2, pulled a 3-2 win over Kazakhstan on Monday to extend their lead atop the points table.

Team India will now face France in their final match of the Group stage on Tuesday.

Here's more.

Match

Indian ace Sathiyan Gnanasekaran stunned Denis Zholudev in three sets in the opening challenge.

Kazakhstan bounced back, with Kirill Gerassimenko winning in three sets against Harmeet Desai.

Manav Thakkar then eked out a 12-10, 11-1, 11-8 win against Alan Kurmangaliyev before Gerassimenko won against Gnanasekaran.

With the scores leveled, all hopes were on Desai, who bested Zholudev 12-10, 11-9, 11-6 to pocket the duel.

Journey

As stated, Team India have been unbeaten so far in the competition.

They bested Uzbekistan without breaking a sweat (3-0).

The likes of Desai, Gnanasekaran, and Thakkar won in three sets to wind up the proceedings.

Next, India overcame Germany (3-1).

Each of the duels involved four sets, with Gnanesakaran and Thakkar winning their respective matches.

Knockouts

India are presently at the top spot in Group 2, with six points in their kitty, and a Match Difference (MD) of +5.

France follow suit (5 points), with two wins and a loss.

Germany (5), Kazakhstan (5), and Uzbekistan (3) trail them in order.

Uzbekistan have been winless so far.

India will eye a dominant display over France to proceed further.

CWG

Team India wound up with the most medals in table tennis in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

They pocketed a total of seven medals, joint-most alongside Singapore.

India's tally read four golds, one silver, and two bronze.

Gnanasekaran and Desai were a part of the men's team alongside veteran Sharath Kamal and Sanil Shetty that beat Singapore in the gold-medal event.