Asian Table Tennis Championships: Indian men’s team assured of bronze

The Indian men’s table tennis team assured itself of a bronze medal at the Asian Championships by defeating Singapore 3-0 in the quarterfinals held on Monday. The opening singles match between veteran Sharath Kamal and Izaac Quek was a closely fought battle, with the 41-year-old Indian ultimately winning 11-1, 10-12, 11-8, 11-13, 14-12. The seasoned G Sathiyan then blanked Yew En Koen Pang 11-6, 11-8, 12-10 to give India a 2-0 lead in the last eight clash. India’s highest-ranked player at 61, Harmeet Desai, sealed the tie by outplaying Zhe Yu Clarence Chew 11-9, 11-4, 11-6. India, seeded third, will face either Iran or Chinese Taipei in the semifinals. The men’s team won bronze in the previous edition held in Doha two years ago. Sharath and Sathiyan, previously in the top-100 singles rankings, are now seeking to improve their standings in the individual events. The revised points system and not playing enough tournaments have contributed to their steep drop in the rankings. Disappointing show In the women’s quarterfinals, fifth seed India suffered a 0-3 loss against Japan. World number eight Mima Ito got past Ayhika Mukherjee in the opening singles, winning 11-7, 15-13, 11-8. World number 36 Manika Batra took a game off seventh-ranked Hina Hayata before going down 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 3-11. Suthirtha Mukherjee also did well to win the opening game against 14th-ranked Miu Hirano before the Japanese found her rhythm for a 7-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5 victory. India will now play classification matches for 5-8 positions on Tuesday. The continental event is taking place ahead of the Hangzhou Asian Games, which begin on September 23rd.