Veteran Indian table tennis player Sharath Kamal continued his giant killing run in the Singapore Smash by defeating world number 22 Omar Assar of Egypt to enter the quarterfinals here on Thursday.
A day after he upset world number 13 Darko Jorgic of Slovenia, Sharath recorded a comfortable 11-4, 11-8, 12-10 win over Assar in the round of 16 of the USD 1.5 million event event.
World number 88 Sharath, who reached the main draw after winning the qualifiers, had it easy against the Egyptian in the first two rounds, but Assar put up a good resistance in the third round.
Sharath made a few mistakes midway, and his opponent cashed in to deuce. However, the Indian paddler grabbed the opportunity to win the last two crucial points and advance to another upset.
In the quarterfinals, the 10-time national champion will face Felix Lebrun of France for a place in the medal rounds.
“I would say that it was all because of the way we had prepared for the World Championships in Korea (Busan). Secondly, the confidence we have gained after the teams qualified for the Paris Olympics,” Sharath said.
Sharath had made early first-round exits in the opening two editions of the tournament.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect it to go so far in the (Singapore) Smash event because it has not happened before. I had to go through the qualification rounds, and to do what I did was excellent. I am immensely happy about it, especially my fitness part and focus,” he added.
The trailblazing Indian player had come from behind to shock Jorgic 8-11 11-6 11-8 11-9 in the round of 32.
In the first round of the main draw, the Chennai-based player had blanked World No. 31 Chilean Nicolas Burgos 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-6).
Sharath’s Olympic chances swell: The stellar run will boost Sharath’s chance of sealing a berth in the singles event of the Paris Olympics with his rankings set to drastically improve.
India can send only two entries in the singles event and Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) will take the final call considering the individual rankings.
Currently, Harmeet Desai (64) and Manav Thakkar (83) are the top two Indians in the men’s section. Sharath is likely to overtake them when the rankings are updated next week.
The Indian men’s and women’s teams have already scripted history by qualifying for the Olympic for the first time.
