Commonwealth Champion Achanta Sharath Kamal stormed into the second round of the men's singles event of the Olympic Table Tennis championship with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Mohammad Boudjadja of Algeria on Saturday.
The Indian national champion never appeared to be under pressure against the Algerian, taking the tie 11-4 12-10 11-6 11-13 11-7 to reach the round of 64.
The Indian, ranked 49th in the tournament, will now take on 25th-ranked Chak Lai Ko of Hong Kong.
Kamal went on the offensive right from the word go, taking the first set with relative ease. Though his opponent managed to gather some momentum in the second set, the Indian managed to hold on to his own and looked like running away with the tie after taking a 3-0 lead.
Though Boudjadja managed to delay the inevitable by taking the fourth set, Kamal kept his cool to rally in the fifth and take the tie.
In the women's singles event to be played later, Mouma Das will begin her campaign with a match against Nanthana Komwong of Thailand.
{{/usCountry}}In the women's singles event to be played later, Mouma Das will begin her campaign with a match against Nanthana Komwong of Thailand.
{{/usCountry}}According to the format of the championship, the top 16 seeds receive a bye till the round of 32 while the next 16 players get a first round bye.