Indian table tennis players Yashaswini Ghorpade and Manush Shah advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the singles competitions at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on September 25.
In the women’s singles, Ghorpade defeated Syria’s Hend Zaza 4-1 with game scores of 11-5, 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, and 11-4. In the men’s singles, Shah won his second-round match against Iran’s Faraji Benyamin by 4-0, registering scores of 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, and 11-5.
However, Sreeja Akula lost in the women’s singles round two to North Korea’s Pyon Song Gyong by 1-4, with scores of 7-11, 8-11, 13-11, 7-11, and 7-11. In the men’s singles, Manav Thakkar was defeated by North Korea’s U Tae Ryong in a closely contested round two match, 3-2, with game scores of 11-4, 2-11, 7-11, 7-11, 11-4, and 3-11.
Earlier, India secured a table tennis medal at the Asian Games when the mixed doubles team of Diya Chitale and Manush Shah reached the semifinals by overcoming Hong Kong’s world number four pair, Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem, in the quarterfinals. The Indian duo, ranked eighth globally, won 3-1 with scores of 11-6, 13-15, 11-9, and 11-5.
The victory guaranteed at least a bronze medal for India and marked the country’s second-ever mixed doubles table tennis medal at the Asian Games, the first being a bronze won by Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra at the 2018 Jakarta Games.
Chitale and Shah will face the Chinese pair Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha in the mixed doubles semifinals.
In contrast, the mixed doubles campaign for Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade ended in the quarterfinals, after they were defeated 0-3 by China’s Lin Shidong and Kuai Man, with game scores of 11-5, 12-10, and 11-9.