Paddler Shamini qualifies for main draw at Worlds

India enjoyed a profitable opening day with K. Shamini qualifying for the main draw of the women's singles at the World Table Tennis Championships here on Monday.

Shamini qualified by topping her group which included Gillian Edwards of Scotland and Nino Neridee of Venezuela. Shamini defeated Gillian 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 13-11, 8-11, 11-8 and then scored a 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-8 win over Nino. Mouma Das and Manika Batra are already in the main draw based on their world ranking.

In the men's singles qualifiers, G. Sathiyan and Sanil Shetty topped their respective groups to enter the next stage. Sathiyan defeated A. Abdulla (UAE) 11-5, 11-6, 11-4, 11-2 and then beat A. Ali (KSA) 11-8, 11-5, 11-2, 9-11, 11-2.  Shetty beat Saleh Mohamed (BRN) 11-5, 11-7, 10-12, 11-13, 11-1, 11-5 and then went on to defeat Villa Ricardo (MEX) 11-7, 11-2, 11-4, 11-7 to qualify for the next stage.

These two have to further win the qualification rounds to get a place in the main draw which is of 128 players. Seeded A. Sharath Kamal and Soumyajit Ghosh are already in the main draw.  In doubles, Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan beat Alyassi Alyas and Saleh Mohammed (BRN) 11-4, 11-3, 11-8 in the first round while women's double pair of Mouma and Shamini crushed M. Mueena and Nimal Fathimath of Maldives 11-4, 11-3, 11-3 in their opener.