New Delhi, 12 October (Hindustan Reporter). Indian paddlers Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee have entered the semi-finals of the women’s doubles in the ongoing Asian Table Tennis Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan on Saturday, with this ensuring India’s medal in the tournament.
The Indian pair of Ayhika and Sutirtha, who created history by winning the bronze medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games, reached the quarter-finals. Defeated South Korea’s Kim Nayoung and Lee Yunhee 3-1 (10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8).
This will be the first all-India women’s doubles pair to reach the podium at the Asian Championships.
Earlier, Gul Nashikwala had won the gold medal in women’s doubles with Japan’s Yoshiko Tanaka when the then Table Tennis Federation of Asia organized this competition for the first time in Singapore in 1952.
World No. 15 Ayhika-Sutirtha pair will face Japan’s Miwa Harimoto and Miyu Kihara in the semi-finals on Sunday.
In men’s singles, Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar stunned higher-ranked South Korean opponents and reached the round of 16.
World No. 115 Shah defeated World No. 23 and former World Championships bronze medalist An Jaehyun 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-6). On the other hand, World No. 60 Thakkar registered a 3-2 (5-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7) win against World No. 14 and Asian Games bronze medalist Zhang Wujin .
In the last round of 16 of the day, Shah will face Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei, while Thakkar will take on Chan Baldwin of Hong Kong.
However, Harmeet Desai lost 0-3 (12-14, 7-11, 7-11) to world number 30 Lim Jonghoon of South Korea in his round of 32 match.
In women’s singles, Manika Batra is the only Indian left in the competition. She will face Harimoto in the last round of 16 of the day.
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Hindusthan News / Sunil Dubey
