Indian paddlers Manush Shah and Diya Chitale secured a bronze medal in the mixed doubles table tennis event at the Asian Games after losing their semifinal to China’s Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin on Friday.
The Indian pair went down 0-4 to the two-time defending champions at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium. Despite the defeat, Manush and Diya finished on the podium and became only the second Indian mixed doubles pair to win a medal at the Asian Games.
Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra were the first Indian pair to achieve the feat.
Strong Run Ends In Semifinal
Manush and Diya had produced an impressive performance in the quarterfinals, beating four-time world medallists and World No. 4 Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem 3-1.
However, they faced a much tougher challenge in the semifinals against Wang and Sun, the Olympic champions and two-time Asian Games winners who are popularly known as ‘Sha-Tou’.
The Indian pair stayed competitive in the opening game but eventually lost 8-11. The Chinese duo then took control of the match and won the second game 11-5.
Manush and Diya fell 0-5 behind early in the third game but fought their way back into the contest. They put pressure on the Chinese pair before eventually losing the game 8-11.
The fourth game was more one-sided as Sun and Wang raced away to an 11-2 win to seal their place in the final.
Other Indian Paddlers Fall Short
India had a mixed day in the other table tennis events.
In men’s doubles, Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran were beaten 0-3 by Japan’s Sora Matsushima and Shunsuke Togami in the third round.
Yashaswini Ghorpade and Diya Chitale also bowed out of the women’s doubles event after losing 0-3 to China’s Shuhan Fan and Yi Chen in the third round.
Sreeja Akula and Syndrela Das suffered a similar fate, losing 0-3 to China’s Man Kuai and Manyu Wang.
In men’s singles, Manav Thakkar lost 2-4 to North Korea’s Ryong Tae in the second round. Manush Shah had earlier exited the men’s doubles event alongside Manav after a 1-3 defeat against Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto and Hiroto Shinozuka.
Yashaswini Advances In Women’s Singles
There was some good news for India in women’s singles as Yashaswini Ghorpade defeated Syria’s Hend Zaza 4-1 in her second-round match.
Yashaswini will now look to continue her run as India aims to add more medals in table tennis at the Asian Games.
Who clinched first Asian Games medal in the mixed doubles table tennis event?
Despite the defeat, Manush and Diya will return home with a historic bronze. Their achievement marks only the second time India has won a mixed doubles table tennis medal at the Asian Games. Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra won the country’s first medal in the event, also a bronze, at the 2018 Jakarta Games.