New Delhi: India’s men paddlers had a perfect start to their campaign in the 2016 World Championships, being played in Kula Lumpur, when they blanked out Vietnam 3-0 in the first round of the Second Division.
In the evening, the women’s squad, too, scored an easy 3-0 triumph over Columbia in group G.
Clubbed in group F, they took on the Vietnamese first this morning and thumped their rivals in quick time. Opening the attack for India, Achanta Sharath Kamal defeated Anh Tu Nguyen 11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 11-6. The Indian had a fine start but after leding 2-0, he dropped a game when Anh came back nicely. However, the experienced ace Indian shut out the challenge by winning the next game.
For Anthony Amalraj, who took on Tien Dat Le in the next rubber, it was rather easy when he quickly disposed of his opponent 12-10, 11-5, 11-6 and after that Harmeet Desai downe Ba Tuan Anh Doan 11-5, 13-11, 2-10 in a tough contest. Despite the threat from Doan, the Indian had things under control.
Both Soumyajit Ghosh and G. Sathiyan, the other members of the men’s squad, had a free day today.
Fortunately, the draw is relaxed with just one match per day as the Indians will take on Turkey tomorrow afternoon. After that, they will play Nigeria, Switzerland and Slovak Republic, in that order, on the following days.
In Second Division’s first-round matche, Mouma Das opened the contest with an easy victory over Columbia’s Paula Medina, scoring a 11-2, 12-10, 11-2 win. She was followed by Manika Batra who defeated Lady Runao 11-5, 11-4, 11-4 while Pooja Sahasrabudde completed the first round task with 11-4, 11-8, 11-3 win over Luisa Zuluaga.
India’s women’s team forms—Manika Batra, Mouma Das, K. Shamini, Pooja Sahasrabudde and Madhurika Patkar—they a part of group G where they have Croatia, Nigeria, Columbia, Puerto Rico and Portugal for company.
In their second round outing tomorrow, the Indians will take on Puerto Rico.
There are 24 teams in the Second Division divided into four groups of six teams each in both sections. All these teams will play each other in round-robin with the top teams qualifying for the second stages draw.
