India witnessed a remarkable achievement on the seventh day at the Asian Games 2023 on Saturday as the duo of Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee made it to the semifinals of the women's doubles event in table tennis.
The Indian pair showed great resilience and determination as they got the better of world number two China in the quarter-finals to promise India at least a medal in the event.
They defeated China’s Meng Chen and Yidi Wang 3-1 to advance to the semi-finals stage. Ayhika and Sutirtha beat Meng and Yidi 11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9 in the quarter-finals.
The brilliant victory has assured India their first medal in table tennis at the 2023 Asian Games. The Indian pair was ranked world number 16 going into the quarter-final clash and caused a big upset to guarantee a medal at the prestigious event.
The India duo of Ayhika and Sutirtha kicked off the challenging fixture in an emphatic fashion. They put up an exceptional performance and successfully managed to clinch the first game 11-5 to leave the home crowd shocked. They continued their dominance and won the second game 11-5 as well.
However, the Chinese pair of Meng and Yidi registered a comeback, not allowing the Indian pair a comfortable victory, as they took an 11-5 convincing win in the third game. In the fourth game, China pushed India and built pressure on the Mukhrejee duo. But the pair held their nerve and managed to win the game 11-9 and cement their spot in the semi-finals.
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The triumph also marked the first-ever entry of an Indian women’s doubles team into the semi-final of an international table tennis championship.
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Ayhika and Surtirtha are the only two Indians left in medal contention in the table tennis event after all the other Indian athletes participating in table tennis were knocked out despite putting up promising performances.