Ghosh-Sathiyan lose in Bulgarian Open TT final

Panagyurishte (Bulgaria), Aug 20 (IANS) The Indian table tennis pair of Soumyajit Ghosh and G. Sathiyan came close to toppling the top-seeded Japanese duo of Jin Uda and Maharu Yoshimura in the men's doubles final of the Seamaster 2017 World Tour Asarel Bulgaria Open here on Sunday but settled for the silver.

The experienced Japanese pair overcame a tough fight from the Indians to win 11-13, 11-7, 11-4, 6-11, 11-5 to take home their second title.

the Indians played well in the opening game. Despite trailing initially, the Indians staged a fine recovery to win the game.

Uda and Yoshimura played steadily to win the second game. They took the third one rather easily to take a comfortable lead, but the Indians came back aggressively in the fourth, maintaining a four-point lead almost throughout.

But the Japanese allowed very little liberty in the decider as they led 3-1 straightaway. The Indians failed to keep up the tempo even as the Japanese upped the ante to quickly pull the rug from under their feet.

For Ueda and Yoshimura this was second title in three World Tour final appearances following victories at the 2013 Japan Open and 2017 China Open.

However, for Ghosh and Sathiyan this was their first appearance together in a men doubles final. Defeat for the duo means that India are still waiting for their first gold medal on the ITTF World Tour.