Sharath loses in third round

Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal went down fighting to Gionis Panagiotis of Greece in a third round match as India's campaign in the World Table Tennis Championships in Yokohama, Japan, ended on Friday.

World number 85 Sharath lost 12-10, 9-11, 11-13, 13-11, 8-11, 8-11.

The lanky Indian, who upset world No 39 Steger Bastian of Germany on Thursday, drew first blood, winning the opening game and was neck and neck with the Greek till the fourth game before running out of steam in the fifth and sixth.

Sharath later teamed up with former National champion Subhajit Saha. The duo went down 13-11, 7-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-8, 9-11, 8-11 in a second round doubles match to Brazilian pair of Monteiro Thiago and Tsuboi Gustavo.

Indians had earlier failed to get past the first round in the women's singles and doubles while Sharath was the lone entry in the main draw of men's singles.