Toyota, Sep 21 (IANS) The Indian women’s table tennis team registered a dominating 3-0 win over Pakistan to top Group F and sailed into the quarterfinals of the Asian Games, topping Group F with three wins from three, here on Monday.
Sutirtha Mukherjee, who won a bronze medal in the women’s doubles event at the last edition in Hangzhou, got India off to a flying start, beating Aleena Khan 11-3, 11-3, 11-4 in just 10 minutes, before Asian Games debutant Syndrela Das defeated Kalsoom Khan 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 11-5).
Sreeja Akula then completed the sweep with another 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-5) win over Fatima Khan.
Meanwhile, the men’s team won their Group F opener against Indonesia by 3-0 on Sunday. Sathiyan Gnanasekran defeated Muhammad Negara 3-0, Manav Thakkar beat Muhammad Junindra 3-2, while Manush Shah beat Affan Pratama 3-0 to hand India a 3-0 victory.
The men’s side then went down in the second tie to Iran 0-3 later. Manush Shah, Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai all lost their matches as the India men’s team lost their second group outing and will next take on Pakistan in their last group game later in the day.
Seven gold medals are on offer in table tennis men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, men’s and women’s team events and mixed doubles.
The team events begin the programme before the individual competitions take over, with the final medal events scheduled for September 28.
India have won three Asian Games table tennis medals, all bronze. The breakthrough came at Jakarta 2018, where the Indian men’s team won the country’s first-ever table tennis medal at the Asian Games. Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra subsequently added another bronze in mixed doubles.
At Hangzhou 2023, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee won bronze in the women’s doubles, India’s first Asian Games medal in the event. Sutirtha is part of the Indian women’s team at Aichi-Nagoya 2026.
–IANS
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