India's top table tennis player Sharath Kamal shocked world no. 8 and world no. 16 to storm into the Asian Cup quarterfinals here today in what turned out to be "one of the biggest days" of his path-breaking career.
Placed in a tough Group B, 49th-ranked Sharath defied the odds to overpower Chinese Taipei's Chuang Chih-Yuan 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 11-3 before clinching a thrilling decider against 16th-ranked Joo Saehyuk at the Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium.
"It has to be one of the biggest days of (my) career. To beat these world class players in a matter of hours is extremely satisfying. Beating Joo was definitely tougher as he is the best defender around. I really had to dig deep," said a drained out Sharath, who made the last-eight stage of the premier continental event for the second year in a row.
The 32-year-old plays world no.3 Fan Zhendong later today to decide the winner of Group B. In another major upset of the day, 12th-ranked Koki Nawa of Japan outplayed world no.2 Xu Xin 11-6, 2-11, 11-5, 12-10 in Group A.
The day, however, belonged well and truly to Sharath. He had to dig out all his reserves in the battle of attrition against defender Saehyuk after overpowering Chuang earlier.
It seemed Sharath would let it slip away at 2-2 against the crafty defender before showing exemplary patience to close out the match. He fought back from 2-7 down in the fifth and deciding game for a famouse 11-3, 4-11, 11-8, 7-11, 13-11 victory. The win off his second match point was his maiden success against the South Korean with the Indian's most recent loss coming at the Incheon Asian Games.
"I have lost to him badly many times but as we are now teammates at Borussia Dusseldorf (in Germany), he told me how to play against defenders. He is so good that he can shift to attack anytime," revealed Sharath.
Earlier, the win over Chuang gave the two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist a big boost. He had beaten the same opponent en route to finishing an impressive sixth in the tournament's 2014 edition in Wuhan, China.
Sharath, who relies more on forehand, upped his back hand game to outsmart Chuang. He played positive from the word go and came back strongly after slipping in the second game.
