G. Sathiyan had a mixed day in the World Table Tennis Contender Tunis here on Friday. The 28-year-old Indian reached the men’s doubles final, but lost in the singles quarterfinals and mixed doubles semifinals.
Sathiyan went down to Dang Qiu of Germany 5-11, 15-17, 6-11 in singles. Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai entered the men’s doubles title clash with a 8-11, 12-14, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9 win over Nandor Ecseki and Adam Szudi of Hungary. They will meet Emmanuel Lebesson and Alexandra Cassin of France. However, Emmanuel Lebesson and Jia Nan Yuan of France downed Sathiyan and Manika Batra 7-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9 in the mixed doubles.
The results:
Men: Singles, quarterfinals: Dang Qiu (Ger) bt G. Sathiyan 11-5, 17-15, 11-6; Pre-quarterfinals: Sathiyan bt Ibrahima Diaw (Sen) 11-6, 11-9, 11-9.
Doubles, semifinals: Sathiyan & Harmeet Desai bt Nandor Ecseli & Adam Szudi (Hun) 8-11, 12-14, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9; Emmanuel Lebesson & Alexandra Cassin (Fra) bt Tomas Polansky & Jiri Martinko (Cze) 9-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-5. Mixed doubles (semifinals): Emmanuel Lebesson & Jia Nan Yuan (Fra) bt Sathiyan & Manika Batra 7-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9.
