Sharath Kamal stuns World No. 7 Niwa at Qatar Open

TIL Desk Sports/ India’s Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan made heads turn when they defeated World No. 7 Koki Niwa and 27th-ranked Yuya Oshima, respectively, to enter men’s singles pre-quarterfinals of the ITTF Wold Tour Platinum Qatar Open in Doha.

If Sharath disposed of Niwa 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 14-12, 11-9 rather easily, the passage of Sathiyan saw a roller-coaster ride before the Indian prevailed over Oshima 6-11, 11-5, 2-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-4, 11-8 in a tension-ridden Round of 32.

The match between Sathiyan and Oshima had several Indian expats on the edge of their seats and, in fact, their support endeared him to put up a spirited fight against the 15th seed Japanese.

The turnaround for Sathiyan happened when he held on to the fifth game 12-10 after deuce –he lost the previous game 10-12 — to level score in the second consecutive thriller. But it gave the necessary confidence to Sathiyan as he won the last two games, striking a nice rhythm.

His next outing in round of 16 will be much tougher he takes on the Japanese child prodigy Tomokazu Harimato, who needs no introduction to his Indian fans.