Indian teqball player Quimcy Dsouza missed out on a place in the women’s singles final after losing to Indonesia’s Sumaya in a three-set semifinal at the Asian Games on Saturday, September 19.
Quimcy started the match strongly and won the opening set 12-7. However, Sumaya responded well in the second set and levelled the contest with a 12-9 win.
Quimcy began the decider on the front foot, taking an early 3-0 lead. Sumaya, though, once again turned things around and won the third set 12-7 to book her place in the final.
Quimcy will now play Lebanon’s Dandal Kamar in the bronze-medal match.
The Indian had made an impressive start to her Asian Games campaign. She began with a major upset against Japan’s world No. 7 Yuina Sakamoto before defeating Cambodia’s Koemyean Dy 2-0 in just 24 minutes.
The Asian Games opening ceremony is scheduled to take place later on Saturday, with Manu Bhaker and Pawan Sehrawat set to carry the Indian flag. Sehrawat was brought in as a flag-bearer after shot-putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor was replaced because he did not receive his official kit in time.
Quimcy, who is based in Mumbai and works as a test engineer, has a sporting background across different disciplines. She first attracted attention as a distance runner at the age of 13 and later represented Maharashtra in football at the age-group level, including at the Under-19 level.
Her football journey eventually led her to teqball. A football enthusiast since childhood, Quimcy became interested in the sport after watching Brazilian legend Ronaldinho play teqball in videos on Instagram.
After completing her degree in Sports Management, she joined sports retailer Decathlon. She later became the first Indian woman to represent the country in teqball at the international level.
Quimcy has also worked to grow the sport in India. She founded the Teqball Club of Bengaluru with the aim of promoting teqball at the grassroots level.