Rowing star G Sathiyan won her two singles, including one against world number 9 Dang Qiu, to record India’s stunning 3-1 victory over second seed Germany in the group stage of Sunday’s World Table Tennis Championships.

World number 37 Sathiyan won two grueling deciders, the first against No. 36 Duda Benedikt (11-13, 4-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-9) before overtaking top-ranked German Qiu (10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11- 9).

In both games, Sathiyan made a strong counterattack after losing the first two games.

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“The match against Qiu is definitely much more difficult. He is one of the top 10 players. It was also a high-quality match,” Sathiyan told PTI.

India’s number 2 Harmeet Desai lost the second single to Qui 1-2 (7-11, 9-11, 13-11, 3-11) before Manav Thakkar helped his team lead 2-1 with 3 -1 ( 13 -11, 6-11, 11-8, 12-10) win over higher-ranked Ricardo Walther.

India, ranked 17th, beat Uzbekistan in their first group game on Saturday. They have to finish in the top two to qualify for the quarter-finals.

In the women’s section, India recorded their first win in the group stage with a 3-0 result over the Czech Republic.

Manika Batra’s side lost against Germany on Saturday.

Manika beat Hana Matelova 3-1 (11-6, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10) in the first single before Akula Sreeja and Diya Chitale won their singles against Marketa Sevcikova and Katerina Tomanovska, 3- 0 and 3-1 each.

It was a close relationship between Diya and Katerina before India won 11-13, 15-13, 12-10, 14-12. Trailing by two points in game four, Diya relied on her serve to make it 10-10 before winning a spectacular rally.

Katerina made it 12-12 before India got the few points they needed to claim a fine win.

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