India win historic bronze medal in Asian table tennis championships

This is the country's first-ever medal in the continental competition.

The Indian men's team clinched a historic first-ever medal at the Asian table tennis championships at the Lusail Sports Arena in Doha, Qatar. Up against top seeds South Korea in the semi-final, it was always going to be an uphill challenge for the Indian men. They gave it their best shot, which wasn't enough as they lost 0-3.

In the first encounter, the competition's top-seed Jan Woo-jin didn't allow Sathiyan Gnanasekaran to settle into the match. It took 35 minutes for the Korean to clinch the match 11-5, 10-12, 11-8, 11-5. However, Sathiyan can take solace from the fact that he at least won one game.

Sharath Kamal, who played the second match in the tie, gave hopes that he might make a turnaround against world No. 22 Lee Sang-Su. But that wasn't to be for the veteran Indian paddler as his smashes went out of the table at crucial times and conceded the match at 7-11, 15-13, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9.

The Koreans next fielded doubles specialist and world No. 77 Cho Seung-min against Harmeet Desai in an important Asian table tennis championships match. Even that ploy worked in favour of the top seeds. The southpaw Cho hardly gave any space to the higher-ranked Indian who after trailing, won the second and third but in the decider, the Korean prevailed in 45 minutes.

Another titanic contest finished 11-4, 9-11, 8-11, 11-6, 13-11 in favour of South Korea. Despite the 3-0 defeat, India will come home having clinched a historic bronze medal at the Asian table tennis championships. This is the nation's first-ever medal at the ITTF-ATTU Asian Championships courtesy of both the losing semi-finalists awarded the bronze.

Women's team end campaign on a winning note

On the other hand, the young Indian women, who played without their top star Manika Batra, were composed in the match for fifth place against Thailand and won it 3-1. Only Archana Girish Kamath who played the opener against world No. 28 Suthasini Sawettabut lost her match 7-11, 11-7. 6-11, 12-10, 9-11 in 36 minutes. The world No. 122 Indian fought fiercely despite two-down and took it to the decider where the experienced Thai prevailed.

Sutirtha Mukherjee disposed of Phantita Pinyopisan in 18 minutes to win the contest 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 and in the third tie, Sreeja Akula posted an 11-7, 11-6, 11-2 win over Wirakarn Tayapitak in 17 minutes.

In the reverse singles, Sutirtha tamed a tired-looking Sawettabut 11-7, 11-6, 10-12, 11-7 in 32 minutes. Shortly afterwards, she also began her singles campaign with a straightforward victory. The 25-year-old brushed aside Qatar's Ali Maha 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 in just over 10 minutes.

Young Indian mixed doubles pair Manav Vikash Thakkar and Archana Girish Kamath bowed out of the Asian table tennis championships in the quarter-finals. The Indian duo took on Ho Kwan Kit and Lee Ho Ching of Hong Kong. They lost the first two games, before reviving their chances by winning the third. However, a comprehensive fourth game defeat ended their hopes. Eventually, Manav and Archana lost 8-11, 4-11, 11-9, 3-11 against a much superior opponent. The match lasted for 29 minutes.

Earlier, they had defeated Kazakh duo Kirill Gerassimenko and Anastassiya Lavrova. The Indian pair started brightly by winning the first game comfortably. However, they lost the following two games having put up a good fight.

The talented young Indian pair composed themselves to win the following two games and march into the quarter-finals. The final score read 11-4, 11-13, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4 in favour of the Indians.

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