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NT Bureau
Chennai, May 23:

        India's top paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal and his partner Soumyadeep Roy entered the second round of the men's doubles event in the World Table Tennis Championship in Zagreb, Croatia, with a 4-2 win over the Austrian duo of Stefan Fegerl and Werner Schlager.

        The Indian pair won 11-4, 6-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9 yesterday to set up a clash with Serbia's Aleksandar Karakasevic and Slobodan Grujic, according to information received here.

        PTI adds:

        Earlier, Soumyadeep Roy and Shubhajit Saha won their respective preliminary qualification rounds to join national champion Sharath Kamal in the men's singles main draw.

        Saha was made to sweat by Ayman Makanay of Jordan but the Indian paddler kept his cool to carve out a 11-5, 11-6, 10-12, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9 win. He will take on Min Yang of Italy in the first round of the main draw.

        Soumyadeep, comparatively, had an easy match and quelled the challenge of Adrien Mattenet of France 14-12, 11-7, 11-5, 10-12, 11-4. He will meet Christophe Legout of France in the main draw.

        Sharath Kamal, who has got a direct entry because of his under-100 rankings, will be up against Poland's Lucjan Blaszczyk.

        Indian women paddlers Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das showed fine form to pass the first stage of the group qualification with flying colours.