Asian Table Tennis Championship | Men's team settles for bronze after loss to South Korea, women end fifth

The Indian men's team of Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai settled for a bronze medal at the Asian Table Tennis Championships 2021 in Doha, Qatar, after they lost to top seeds South Korea in the semis. This is India's first medal at the event, which did not see China's participation this time around. 

In the quarters, India got the better of Iran, which assured them of the medal. Even though the scoreline doesn't suggest so, but two out of the three matches played in the tie, could have swung in India's way. 

Sathiyan put up a spirited fight against world no.12 Woojin Jang but lost 1-3 (5-11, 12-10, 8-11, 5-11).

Sharath lost the match 2-3 against world no.22 Lee Sangsu (7-11, 15-13, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9).

In the last match, Harmeet Desai too lost in five games against Seungmin Cho. In a nail-biter, the Indian lost 4-11, 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-13.

The women's team too put up a great show, but didn't have a medal against their name. The team finished fifth, after they beat Thailand 3-1 in the playoff. Archana Girish Kamath beat Thailand’s top player Suthsani Sawettabut 3-2 (7-11, 11-7, 6-11, 12-10, 9-11).

Sutirtha Mukherjee had an easy outing against teenager Phantita Pinyopisan 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-6). Sreeja Akula then put India in the lead with a 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-2) win over Wirakarn Tayapitak.

Mukherjee was also in action in the women's singles. The Indian progress to the Round of 64 after an easy victory over Qatar's Moha 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-4), Now she be up against Mongolia’s Bolor-Erdene Batmukh in the round of 64.

Unfortunately, the mixed doubles pair of Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath bowed out of the quarters.

After beating the Kazakhstan pair of Anastassiya Lavrova and Kirill Gerassimenko 3-2 (11-4, 11-13, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4), they fell to Hong Kong’s Lee Ho Ching and Ho Kwan-kit 3-1 (8-11, 4-11, 11-9, 3-11).