TT World C'ships: Sharath, Sathiyan off to a winning start

Veterans Sharath Kamal and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan made a winning start at the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban on Sunday.

The 56th ranked Indian defeated World No. 170 David Serdaroglu of Austria 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 to advance to the round of 64.

Sathiyan beat England's Tom Jarvis 4-3 (11-9 11-8 7-11 11-2 15-13 13-11 11-6) in another men's singles contest to begin his campaign on a positive note.

The other Indian in the singles competition, Manika Batra will play her opening round match later on Sunday.

Manush Shah and Harmeet Desai had lost their opening matches on Saturday.

Sreeja Akula had won her round of 128 clash against Nicole Arlia of Italy.