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Regular-article-logo Wednesday, 04 December 2024

Achanta Sharath Kamal champion

The 37-year-old Indian recovered well to outclass top seed Marcos Freitas of Portugal 6-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 17-15 in the summit clash

PTI Muscat Published 15.03.20, 10:06 PM
Sharath Kamal after winning the Oman Open

Sharath Kamal after winning the Oman Open Telegraph picture

Ace Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal ended his decade long wait for a title, producing a sensational performance to win the ITTF Challenger Plus Oman Open here on Sunday.

Despite being a game down, the 37-year-old Indian recovered well to outclass top seed Marcos Freitas of Portugal 6-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 17-15 in the summit clash.

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It was in 2010 when Sharath had bagged his last title at Egypt Open. Since then he made two semi-final appearances -- Morocco Open in 2011 and India Open in 2017 -- but couldn’t manage to get through it.

Earlier in the semi-finals, Sharath pulled off a stunning come-from-behind victory against Russia’s Kirill Skachkov. Sharath, seeded fourth, made a sensational comeback after being two games down to register a 11-13, 11-13, 13-11, 11-9, 13-11, 8-11, 11-7 win in a thrilling seven-set semi-final that lasted for one hour and eight minutes.

“Playing well here will help in getting better rankings and seedings, keeping the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in mind,” he said. “This time we had a lot of Indians participating here as all of us are looking for berth in Tokyo. My performance here will be significant for me personally as well as I am bracing up for the Olympics and hope I can make it count,” he said after the semi-final win.

Freitas entered the final with a 5-11, 11-9, 6-11, 6-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-3 win over India’s Harmeet Desai.

Desai dominated the match at the initial stage but the world No. 26 Freitas fought his way back after being 1-3 down and went on to win the next three successive games to enter the final.

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