Asian Games: India Women Fight Back In Table Tennis To Secure Second Straight Win
The Indian women's team scripted a fine comeback to script a 3-2 win over Singapore in their Group F match of the table tennis event at the Asian Games.
The Indian women's team scripted a fine comeback to script a 3-2 win over Singapore in their Group F match of the table tennis event at the Asian Games here on Sunday. India were staring at defeat after trailing 1-2 before Sreeja Akula and Yashaswini Ghorpade secured crucial wins to clinch the tie. Opening the proceedings, Ghorpade defeated Jian Zeng 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9. But Sreeja Akula suffered a narrow 8-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-4, 6-11 loss to Loy Ming in the second match. Diya Chitale too went down 7-11, 4-11, 11-7, 5-11 against Tan Zhao to concede a 1-2 lead to Singapore. Returning for a must-win match against Zeng Jian, Sreeja shrugged off the earlier loss to register a 6-11 11-3, 11-7, 11-4 win to level the tie at 2-2. In the decider, Ghorpade beat Loy Ming 5-11, 11-8, 12-10, 4-11, 11-9 to notch up a memorable win for India.
Earlier, India's men's and women's teams began their campaigns with identical 3-0 wins over Indonesia in their respective Group F openers The women's team began on a winning note as Sreeja, Diya and Yashaswini swept their Indonesian opponents.
Sreeja beat Ni Maharani 3-1 in the opening rubber, recovering from an 8-11 second-game loss to win 11-3, 11-4, 11-4.
Diya then defeated Almaira Nebuchadnezzar 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-5) before Yashaswini sealed the tie with a 3-0 (12-10, 11-4, 11-4) win over Citra Rasmi.
The men followed with an equally dominant 3-0 victory, though they were pushed harder in the second rubber.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran put India ahead with a 3-0 win over Muhammad Negara, prevailing 11-8, 11-7, 11-9.
Manav Thakkar then survived a five-game battle against Muhammad Junindra, winning 3-2. Manav took the first game 11-7, dropped the second 8-11, and regained the lead by winning the third 11-6.
Junindra forced a decider by taking the fourth 11-6, but Manav held his nerve to win the fifth 11-9.
Manush Shah completed the men's sweep with a 3-0 win over Affan Pratama, prevailing 11-9, 11-9, 12-10.
India's women are grouped alongside Indonesia, Pakistan and Singapore in Group F.
The men's team is clubbed with Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia.
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