Doha, March 4 (IANS) The Indian challenge came to an end at World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender Doha on Thursday with the defeat of Achanta Sharath Kamal in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals.

World No.32 Sharath lost to world No.7 Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei 6-11, 4-11, 8-11.

Sharath, who was playing his first international tournament after a year's break due to the coronavirus pandemic, couldn't gain momentum despite showing good resistance in the latter part of the match against the higher-ranked Yun-Ju.

With Sharath's loss, the Indian challenge came to an end in the tournament.

Earlier, Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula also lost their respective final qualifying round matches in the women's singles category.

While Batra lost to world No. 69 Ganna Gaponova 5-11, 6-11, 14-12, 5-11, Akula, who had outclassed world No.74 Vega Paulina of Chile in the earlier round, made her Russian opponent Mariia Tailkova worked hard and almost got the momentum shifted in her favour with a come-from-behind 2-1 lead before losing the tie 9-11, 11-5, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11.

--IANS qma/