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The Indian men’s table tennis team put on a dominant show against Bangladesh in the quarterfinal of the event as they beat them 3-0. The doubles pair of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai provided an early lead as they beat the doubles pair of Mohatusin Ridoy and Ramhimilian Bawm 11-8, 11-6, 11-2.
Sharath Kamal continued the dominance as he beat Sabbir Rifat 11-4, 11-7, 11-2 to give India a 2-0 lead. Sathiyan Gnanasekaran put the final nail in the coffin as he beat Mohatusin Ridoy 11-2, 11-3, 11-5 to help India beat Bangladesh 3-0. The defending champions will now face Nigeria in the second semifinal on Monday.
Indian men's table tennis has had an amazing campaign so far. They finished at the top of Group 2 by winning over Barbados, Singapore and Northern Ireland. Team India registered wins by an identical margin of 3-0 in all these matches. It remained the same for them in the QF as well.
Bangladesh looked never close to challenging India in all the three games they played. The Indian duo of Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran started off things against Ramhimlian Bawm, and Mohutasin Ahmed Ridoy. Sathiyan and Harmeet completely dominated against the Bangladeshis, defeating them 11-8, 11-6, 11-2, and gaining a 1-0 lead over the opponent.
In the second game, Sharath Kamal brought all his experience into play as he forced Sabbir Rifat to make errors. The 4-year-old Indian sent Rifat packing out of the competition within three games by 11-4, 11-7, 11-2. The Bangladeshi did look to threaten Kamal in the second game but the Indian was alert enough to not allow his opponent to take a lead.
Sathiyan was the next player for India and he faced Ridoy in the next tie. The pattern of Indian domination continued as Ridoy was defeated easily by 11-2, 11-3, 11-5. All these games finished within minutes as the Indians looked in a hurry to advance to the semis.