As expected, G. Sathiyan, the top seed of Tamil Nadu, entered the semifinals of the table tennis event of the 36th National Games here on Friday, but his State-mate and second seed Sharath Kamal pulled out the singles midway to West Bengal’s Soumyajit Ghosh complaining of lower back pain in the quarterfinals.
Sathiyan defeated local boy Manav Thakkar 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 14-12, 13-11 in the round of eight.
On the other hand, Sharath, the Birmingham Commonwealth Games hero, was leading by two games to one, and 6-1 in the fourth when he asked for a medical time-out. After the physio examined him, Sharath said he could no longer continue. Ghosh will now take on Manush Shah, seeded sixth.
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