Indian women's table tennis team wins first-ever medal at Asian Table Tennis Championships

Indian women’s table tennis team ended their campaign at the 27th ITTF-Asian Table Tennis Championships 2024 with a historic bronze on Wednesday as they went down against Japan in the semi-finals in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Indian team comprising Ayhika Mukherjee, Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, and Sutirtha Mukherjee were assured of a first-ever medal in women’s team event of Asian Table Tennis Championships on Tuesday when they defeated Paris Olympics bronze medallists South Korea in the 3-2 in the quarter-finals.

At the Asian Table Tennis Championships, the losing semi-finalists are also assured of a medal.

Historic medal in Kazakhstan

On Wednesday, India’s campaign ended with a 3-1 defeat to Japan. The Japanese will face China in the final as the latter beat Hong Kong 3-0 in the other semi-final.

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In the opening tie of the India-Japan semi-final, Ayhika Mukherjee lost 3-2 (8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 13-11, 7-11) to Miwa Harimoto before Manika Batra launched a comeback with a 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-8) win over Satsuki Odo.

Japan, however, took a decisive lead after Mima Ito thumped Sutirtha Mukherjee 3-0 (11-9, 11-4, 15-13) and Harimoto defeated Batra 3-1 (11-3, 6-11, 11-2, 11-3) to seal the tie for Japan.

The Indian men’s table tennis will face Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals on Wednesday as well.