(MENAFN- AsiaNet News) Indian table tennis star Achanta Sharath Kamal made a surprising exit from the Paris olympics men's singles competition, falling 2-4 to lower-ranked Deni Kozul of Slovenia in a round of 64 match on Sunday.
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The 42-year-old Sharath Kamal, participating in his fifth Olympics, was defeated with scores of 12-10, 9-11, 6-11, 7-11, 11-8, 10-12 by his opponent, who is ranked 86 places below him. The match lasted 53 minutes.
Despite being the Commonwealth Games champion and ranked 40th in the world, Sharath Kamal won a close first game but then lost the next three, putting him behind 1-3. He managed to win the fifth game, making it 2-3, but lost another close game to ultimately bow out of the competition. His opponent, Deni Kozul, is ranked 126th in the world.
Earlier in the day, India's top-ranked female paddler, Sreeja Akula, advanced to the round of 32 with a dominant 4-0 victory over Sweden's Christina Kallberg.
Sreeja Akula, who made history as the first Indian paddler to win a WTT Contender singles title, secured a 11-4, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8 victory over Sweden's Christina Kallberg in just 30 minutes.
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The Indian paddler had an easy win in the first set but faced tougher competition in the second. Kallberg continued to challenge her in the next two sets.
In the third set, both players were evenly matched up to 7-5, but Sreeja regained her composure to clinch the set.
Sreeja started strong in the fourth set, taking a 9-3 lead. However, some unforced errors and a few strong smashes from Kallberg reduced the lead to 9-7 and then to 10-8.
A powerful, unanswered forehand to the right corner secured Sreeja's progression to the next round.
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