Toyota, Sep 20 (PTI) India’s men’s and women’s teams began their table tennis campaigns at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with identical 3-0 wins over Indonesia in their respective Group F openers here on Sunday.
The women’s team got their campaign off to a winning start as Sreeja Akula, Diya Chitale and Yashaswini Ghorpade 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 are clubbed with Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia. PTI TAP DDV
