ITTF-ATTU Asian Championships: Indian men reach semis

This is the 25th edition of the prestigious continental competition.

The Indian men's table tennis team began their 2021 ITTF-ATTU Asian Championships campaign by defeating Iran 3-1 in a gruelling quarterfinal clash on Wednesday.

Seeded fourth, the Indian team directly entered the last eight of the competition. Facing Iran at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar, India's charge was led by Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran. Kamal was the first one to get off the blocks. The veteran paddler saw off the challenge of Nima Alamian 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-5 in a cagey opening match to give India the advantage.

Prior to the match, the Indian team knew that they would have to come up with a clear strategy to get the better of a competitive Iran side. Nima Alamian and Noshad Alamiyan were termed as fighters by the Indian team and the Iranian duo stood up to the test. Sathiyan Gnanasekaran faced a similarly tough outing against Noshad Alamiyan in the second match. The 28-year-old had to use all his experience to get over the line. Eventually, Gnanasekaran won 11-7, 11-6, 6-11, 11-6 to hand India a 2-0 lead.

Finally, it was the turn of the third member of the Indian contingent to show his mettle, Harmeet Desai. He was up against Amir Hossein Hodaei in a match that Iran had to win to keep the tie alive. Hodaei duly delivered, in a match that went right down to the wire. Ultimately, Desai succumbed to an 8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 14-12, 7-11 defeat.

Therefore, Sharath Kamal had to return for his second outing of the evening, to take on Noshad Alamiyan. The 39-year-old clinched the contest after a tough battle. Kamal went on to win 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9. With this victory, India won the tie 3-1 in over two hours and 20 minutes to move into the semi-finals.

Indian men on verge of history

The Indian men's team are now on a verge of winning a historic medal at the ITTF-ATTU Asian Championships. The nation has won just one medal (bronze) in the competition's history, way back in the year 1976. Manjit Singh Dua and Vilas Menon had clinched a bronze medal in the men's doubles category in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Sharath Kamal-led India will next have to tackle South Korea or Hong Kong in the semi-finals. It must be noted that China are not participating in this year's ITTF-ATTU Asian Championships. They had won the gold medals in all seven categories at the last edition (2019) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. However, China have decided not to take part in order to focus on their National Games back home.

Indian women crash out

The Indian women's team were knocked out of the ITTF-ATTU Asian Championships after a 1-3 defeat against Japan in the quarter-finals. Sreeja Akula was the first one to lose, going down 5-11, 3-11, 3-11 against Hitomi Sato. Archana Girish Kamath fell short after a brave fight against Saki Shibata in the second match.

The Indian paddler lost 12-10, 7-11, 4-11, 12-10, 9-11. Sutirtha Mukherjee's victory in the third match over Miyu Nagasaki gave India a glimmer of hope. She held her nerves to win 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 7-11, 11-8. However, Akula couldn't win her must-win match against Shibata. After winning the first two games, she blew the match away 11-8, 12-10, 2-11, 9-11, 8-11.

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