Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams ended their challenge at the ongoing World Team Table Tennis Championships after defeats to South Korea and Chinese Taipei respectively on Wednesday. Moving to the quarterfinals would have ensured an Olympics 2024 quota for both Indian teams, but the dreams of earning a direct qualification through this tournament is over. However, India can still fulfill its Paris 2024 dream depending on their world ranking at the month-end. The men’s team was defeated by South Korea 3-0.
Harmeet Desai started for India against Jang Woojin. However, the South Korea beat the competitive Indian in three straight sets by 12-10, 13-11 and 11-7 to make it 1-0 for South Korea.
The hosts made it 2-0 with Lim Jonghoon securing a 3-1 win against India’s multi-time Commonwealth Games and Asian Games medalist Achanta Sharath Kamal (11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 11-4).
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran had the responsibility to swing things in favour of India, but he lost to 3-0 to Lee Sang Su (11-5, 11-8, 11-2).
Indian women’s team on the other hand registered a 1-3 loss to Chinese Taipei.
Manika Batra started off things well for India, securing a thrilling 3-2 win over Chen Szu-Yu (11-8, 8-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-9). India got a 1-0 lead in the tie.
Sreeja Akula however lost to Chen I-Ching in the second match by 3-0 (6-11, 9-11, 5-11) and scoreline was even. South Korea got the lead with Ayhika Mukherjee losing to Li Yu-Jhun by 3-1 (10-12, 13-15, 11-9, 2-11).
South Korea earned the quarterfinal spot-earning win when Chen I-Ching beat Manika Batra by 3-1 (10-12, 11-5, 9-11, 5-11).
The Indian men’s and women’s teams secured their spots in the round of 16 stage of the ongoing World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan, South Korea on Wednesday.
First, it was the Indian women’s side that beat Italy 3-0.
Later during the day, the men’s team also defeated Kazakhstan by 3-2 and joined their women’s counterparts in the round of 16.
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