Doha, Mar 9 :Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal entered the men’s singles last-16 stage of the World Table Tennis Star Contender series after beating world number 16 Patrick Franziska, here on Tuesday.

Sharath registered a thrilling 12-10, 3-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-9 win over Germany’s Franziska in the men’s singles second round match.

In a hard-fought five-setter tie, the seasoned campaigner and World No 32 Sharath began the battle with a 1-0 lead before the German Franziska saw making a comeback to level the scores. Third and fourth game also saw equal domination from both the players as they took the match into the fifth set.

However, the nine-time senior national champion kept his calm in the crucial decider and got the better of Franziska to wrap up the match in his favour.

Sharath will now face the winner of the match between Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh and German Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the pre-quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, other Indians Gnanasekaran Sathiyan and Manika Batra couldn’t manage to progress further after suffering defeats in their respective singles second round matches.

While World No 63 Batra fell short 7-11, 6-11, 7-11 against Japan’s Mima Ito, who is ranked third in the world, Sathiyan couldn’t succeed against the Japanese sensation and World No 5 Tomokazu Harimoto and suffered a 4-11, 5-11, 8-11 loss. (UNI)