Tokyo Olympics: Sharath Kamal keeps the dream alive, advances to third round

Sharath Kamal defeated Portugal’s Tiago Apolinia 4-2 in the second round of men’s singles Table Tennis at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday.  He also became the second paddler to advance to the third round after Manika Batra.

The Tamil Nadu player took the lead in the third set 2-1. Although the match was toe to toe in the sixth set, Sharath turned it around and won three-in-a row in this best of seven encounter to progress to the next round. The spotlight was on his sleek backhand as he took the match 4-2.

India had a great start on Monday with Bhavani Devi and men’s archery team booking their spots to the next round of the respective field.