Sharath Kamal first Indian paddler to reach ITTF Pro Tour semis

New Delhi, Jun 25 (UNI) Achanta Sharath Kamal became the first Indian player to reach the semi-final of an ITTF Pro Tour after he scored an emphatic 4-1 win over Christophe Bertin of France in the Brazil Open Table Tennis Championship in Sau Paulo.

The Commonwealth games gold medallist beat the Frenchman 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 12-10, 3-11 in the quarter-finals, according to information received here today.

In the semi-finals, the world number 124 Indian will meet Lee Jin Kwon of South Korea who got the better of Canada's Zhang Peng 12-10, 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 14-12 in other last eight match.

Earlier in the pre-quarter-final match, Sharath Kamal beat Joao Monteiro of Portugal 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9.

''My attacking play was strong today, I was powerful. The crucial stage of the match was the fourth game. I was leading by two games to one but Christophe was ahead 10-7, I won the next five points and that turned the match in my favour,'' Sharath Kamal said after the quarter-final match.

''I thought about the match, I watched Christophe play yesterday, he's tall like me so he has a good reach and that means he's good near the net, so all the time I tried to force him back.'' ''I knew he had a good service and his backhand is strong, so as the match progressed I played more and more to his forehand, that was where I could win.'' Sharath Kamal will next participate in Chile Open (June 28 to July 2), Singapore Open (September 7 to 10), China Open (September 14 to 17) and Japan Open (September 21 to 24).

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