Asia Cup TT: Saha beats world no 38 Li Hu

Subajit Saha caused yet another upset by beating world number 38 Li Hu of Singapore 4-1 to finish ninth in the second stage of the Asia Cup Table Tennis Championships in Guangzhou.

Earlier, he had beaten world No. 18 Jiang Tian Yi of Hong Kong 3-2 in the first stage to make the top players sit up and take notice of his class.

Saha, ranked 259 in the world, played with purpose right from the start and had the measure of his opponent. With his attacking game, Saha proved to be too good for the Singaporean who just about manged to take a game off the Indian.

Divya Deshpande, on the other hand, finished 13th in the second stage defeating world No. 135 Beh Lee Wei of Malaysia 4-2.  This was the second occasion in the championships that the 16th seeded had beaten the Malaysian.

Earlier, the Indian had accounted for Wei in the first stage group D matches with a 4-2 verdict. Incidentally, Divya who topped her group, became the winner of the Continental Cup.

Divya, though began slowly, picked up her threads from where she left off in their previous meeting to catch her opponent on the wrong foot. The Malaysian did show glimpses of staging a comeback but Divya was too strong in her returns.

Often employing good smashes, Divya won several of her points in the match.