Sharath Kamal celebrates his win.
| Photo Credit: R. Ravindran
Sharath Kamal and S.F.R. Snehit were on song at the WTT Star Contender at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Friday. The two couldn’t have asked for a better outing to perform to their best in front of the home crowd.
Sharath has few parallels in India when he is at his best. The 42-year-old showed Nicholas Lum, the 19-year-old Australian, what he can deliver by dispatching him 11-8, 11-8, 11-9. Sharath’s farewell tournament is turning out to be one of his best.
Late in the day, Snehit counterattacked to rally and outwit world No. 29 Yukiya Uda 8-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10. Snehit will next play Sharath for a place in the quarterfinals.
The top seed Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan was given a minor scare before he put it across his compatriot Maharu Yoshimura 11-3, 11-3, 8-11, 7-11, 11-9.
There were plenty of upsets as eight seeds in the men’s — An Jaehyun (6), Yukiya Uda (7), Lum (10), Quadri Aruna (4), Finn Lu (11), Wong Chun Ting (13), Alvaro Robles (9) and Hwan Bae (14) — and two in the women’s section — Manika Batra (9) and Sreeja Akula (10) — bit the dust.
The 24-year-old Snehit, with a world ranking of 123, put up a gallant show against Uda. Against a player with a powerful forehand, Snehit counterattacked after losing the first two games. In the decider, Uda led 8-6 and took a time-out. Uda then had three matchpoints at 10-7 before Snehit won five points on the trot to script a sensational comeback.
“I came prepared. I took time to adjust to his speed. This is my biggest win,” Snehit said.
The results (second round): Men: Omar Assar (Egy) bt Kwan Man Ho (Hkg) 4-11, 11-7, 11-3, 12-10; Sharath Kamal bt Nicholas Lum (Aus) 11-8, 11-8, 11-9; Manav Thakkar bt Finn Lu (Aus) 11-4, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8; Snehit bt Yukiya Uda (Jpn) 8-11, 11-13, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10 ; Andre Bertelsmeier (Ger) bt An Jaehyun (Kor) 13-11, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10; Sora Matsushima (Jpn) bt Payas Jain 11-5, 11-1, 10-12, 11-7; Feng Yi-Hsin (Tpe) bt Quadri Aruna (Ngr) 13-11, 11-8, 11-8; Jonathan Groth (Den) bt Harmeet Desai 11-6, 11-7, 12-10; Tomokazu Harimoto (Jpn) bt Maharu Yoshimura (Jpn) 11-3, 11-3, 8-11, 7-11, 11-9.
Women: Huang Yu-Jie (Tpe) bt Manika Batra 11-7, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9; Kavya Bhatt bt Miyuu Kihara (Jpn) 11-3, 11-9, 11-5; Joo Cheonhui (Kor) bt Ayhika Mykherjee 16-14, 11-4, 11-5; Shin Yubin (Kor) bt Divyanshi Bhowmick 11-13, 11-4, 11-7, 12-10; Adriana Diaz (Pur) bt Syndrela Das 11-7, 11-9, 11-5; Krittwika Roy bt Sreeja Akula 11-6, 11-9, 6-11, 4-11, 11-7; Sakura Yokoi (Jpn) bt Diya Chitale 11-8, 11-9, 11-6.
Published – March 28, 2025 09:32 pm IST
