Tokyo Olympics: Sharath Kamal Goes Down Fighting To Rio Gold Medallist Ma Long

Tokyo Olympics: Sharath Kamal put up a good fight but eventually lost 7-11, 11-8, 11-13, 4-11, 4-11 against reigning Olympic and world champion Ma Long.

Indian paddler Sharath Kamal took a game off the legendary Ma Long, the reigning Olympic and world champion, before making a third round exit from the table tennis competition at the Tokyo Games here on Tuesday. Sharath fought tooth and nail to take the second game from Long but eventually lost 7-11 11-8 11-13 4-11 4-11 in 46 minutes. With the defeat, India's challenge has ended in table tennis at the Games. Manika Batra, Sutirtha Mukherjee and G Sathiyan have all exited the singles competition. After losing a close fist game, Sharath took a 7-3 lead in the second with some perfectly placed forehands, and he was also helped by some errors by Long. The Chinese legend soon reduced the margin by taking five straight points, inducing backhand errors from the Indian.