Indian men put up a feeble show as they lost their last league match 1-3 to Bulgaria in the second division of the world table tennis championship in Bremen, Germany on Friday.
India had already entered the pre-quarterfinals, with 8 points in their kitty from a 3-2 win-loss record.
As the East Europeans were seeded 11th in the second division, just three spots above the Indians, Sharath and co were expected to put up a stronger fight in the tie.
Singapore maintained their winning streak to emerge at the top of Group H woth 10 points from five wins and directly move to the quarterfinals. Bulgaria, with 9 points, also advanced to the pre-quarterfinal stage.
Commonwealth Games champion Achanta Sharath Kamal continued his fine run and was the only Indian to score a victory in the tie, thrashing Konstantin Parapanov 3-0, while Shubhajit Saha lost a gruelling battle to Kessov Todor.
Soumyadeep Roy went down meekly to world number 50 Zhe Feng 5-11 6-11 3-11 in the opening match.
Sharath Kamal levelled the tie with a 11-3 11-5 11-8 win over Parapanov.
Saha took Todor to the wire but lost 11-7 10-12 8-11 11-8 5-11.
Sharath Kamal, however, failed to deliver in the fourth match going down 11-2 11-3 11-8 against the higher ranked Zhe Feng.
The Indian women's team, which has lost all their ties in the championship division, would take on Italy, seeded 11th, in play-off matches.
