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India's ace paddlers Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran on Thursday registered victories in their respective matches to advance into the men's singles Round of 16 at the ongoing 19th Asian Games.
A team bronze winner in the 2018 Asian Games, Veteran player Kamal never gave a chance to his opponent Mohammed Shaffan Ismail of Maldives to settle down and registered an 11-9, 11-2, 11-7, 11-7 victory in the men's singles round of 32 at Hangzhou 2023. Kamal will lock horns with Chih-Yuan Chuang of Chinese Taipei in the round of 16 on Friday. The 41-year-old Indian ace won two Asian Games bronze medals in 2018 - men's team and mixed doubles. Meanwhile, his compatriot Sathiyan Gnanasekaran also overwhelmed Turki Lafi Almutairi of Saudi Arabia while writing an 11-5, 11-6, 11-9, 11-2 triumph. Earlier the duo of Sathiyan and Kamal defeated Mongolia's Ser-od Gankhuyag and Manlaijargal Munkh-Ochir 11-5, 11-3, 11-3 in the men's doubles event round of 32. An excellent display of attack by Sharath and Sathiyan saw the pair start the match in a rather convincing fashion. The Indian pair played an attacking game from the beginning and took the first game without breaking a sweat. Sharath and Sathiyan continued to move from strength to strength together and won the second game more comprehensively than the first 11-3. The Mongolians seemed to have no answers to the Indian paddling contingent. Sharath and Sathyan outclassed their opponents in all three games to register a straight-set victory and advance into the Round of 16. (ANI)
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