Paris Olympics: Harmeet Desai outclasses Zaid Abo Yaman, advances to Round of 64

Paris [France], July 27 (ANI): India’s Harmeet Desai advanced to the Round of 64 in the men’s singles table tennis at the ongoing Paris Olympics after beating Jordan’s Zaid Abo Yaman 4-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5) in the preliminary round on Saturday.

The 31-year-old will face Felix Lebrun of France at the South Paris Arena in the round of 64 on Sunday.

Harmeet started the match on a positive note. He secured five consecutive points to pocket the first game 11-7 in just six minutes. However, the second game was more closely contested, but Desai continued to dominate his Jordanian opponent. He secured five points off his own serve to take the second game 11-9.

The third game proved to be a comfortable affair for the Indian table tennis player. He was ruthless with his serves and secured seven points off it to clinch the game 11-5 in seven minutes.

Desai sealed the victory by winning the fourth game 11-5 in six minutes. In the final game, he won five points on the trot to outclass Abo Yaman and march into the main draw after wrapping up the match in 30 minutes.

The Indian team has 117 athletes and they will be competing in 16 disciplines. The Olympics started on July 26 and will conclude on August 11. India will look to outdo its tally of seven medals from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which included a gold, two silver, and four bronze medals.

Earlier on Saturday, ace India shooter Manu Bhaker finished third in the qualification round of Women’s 10 Metre Air Pistol to qualify for the final at the ongoing Paris Olympics. While Rhythm Sangwan failed to make her place in the final after finishing in 15th place.

Manu Bhaker displayed a stunning performance in the qualification round. In the first two series, Manu ended with 97 points. In the third series, the 22-year-old bagged 98 points. In the final three series, she sealed 96 points to finish in third place with a total of 580-27x.

On the other hand, Manu’s teammate, Rhythm ended up in the 15th spot with a total of 573-14x points and failed to make it into the final round.

Indian shooters Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Cheema failed to make it to the final round of the men’s 10 m air pistol competition.

Cheema (18th spot with 574-17x points) and Sarabjot (9th spot with 577-16x points) failed to make it to the final eight who qualified for the medal round.