Paddlers Desai, Sathiyan, Amalraj in India Open main draw

New Delhi, Feb 15: Indian youngsters Harmeet Desai and Gsekaran Sathiyan rode into the main draw of the 2017 ITTF World Tour India Open table tennis tourment with emphatic victories in their fil qualification matches at the Thyagaraja Sports Complex here on Wednesday.

The experienced Anthony Amalraj also entered the main draw of the $150,000 tourment, outsmarting Chinese Taipei’s Tzu-Hsiang Hung in a four-game duel.

They will join fellow Indians Achanta Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh and Sanil Shetty in the main draw. Sharath Kamal, as World No.62, had got a direct entry into the main draw. The 19-year-old Sreeja Akula also created a flutter among the sparse crowd in the stands by defeating World No.171 Lin Po-Hsuan of Taiwan to become the first Indian to make it to the semi-fils in the U-21 women’s singles competition.  The Hyderabadi lass, ranked World No.322, won 11-7, 6-11, 6-11, 11-3, 11-9 for one of the biggest wins in her scent career. (IANS)