India scripted historical past by securing a medal for the primary time on the twenty fifth Asian Table Tennis Championships at Lusail Sports Arena, Doha, Qatar when their males’s group superior to the semi-finals on Wednesday.
In the absence of defending champions China, the fourth-seeded Indians performed straight quarterfinals and beat Iran 3-1. Three-time Olympian Sharath Kamal contributed by successful two matches in opposition to up-and-coming stars Alamian brothers Nima, 19, and Noshad, 20, whereas Tokyo Olympian G Sathiyan defeated Noshad, whereas Harmeet misplaced preventing to Amir Hossain Hodei. Gone, however his encounter in a five-setter.
The Indian will face prime seed South Korea, which additionally defeated fifth seed Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Jang Woo-jin, the best ranked males’s singles participant within the match, gave the Koreans a good begin in opposition to Lam Siu Hang. Although Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting leveled off by defeating Lee Sang-su, Lim Jong-hoon with a win over Ho Kwan Kit introduced the Koreans again to driver standing and essential stability within the battle, as anticipated. , the anticipated semi-final place after beating Wong.
Second seed Japan will face Chinese Taipei within the second semi-final.
“This is the first time in my two-decade-long career that India is playing in the semi-finals of the Asian Championships. I am proud to have reached this milestone and very happy indeed. I assure everyone, this is just the beginning. We will not be satisfied with an assured bronze medal and we will go for the gold medal,” Sharath advised indianexpress.com from Doha on Thursday after a coaching session.
In group occasions, all semi-finalists are assured of at the very least one bronze medal.
“Earlier variations had tries and omissions. In a few of our quarterfinal matches, we couldn’t convert match factors into wins. Now that we have now reached right here, why cannot we go additional? Why ought to we be happy with the bronze medal?” The previous man mentioned.
Sharath readily admitted that the absence of the Chinese gamers has been a boon to everybody within the match.
Table tennis powerhouse China was pressured to desert the celebrated biennial occasion that they’ve dominated for many years resulting from clashes over the dates of their nationwide video games and obligatory (quarantine) protocols upon arrival in Qatar.
“The rankings are unimportant. We (both Indians and Koreans) will clash on the same level on Friday,” Sharath mentioned.
Sharath additionally mentioned that the Indians will make an affect in singles, doubles and blended doubles occasions which might be adopted by the group occasions from Friday. “All is well and happy. We are all looking forward to beat the Koreans. We are focused and confident too. We will go for the gold,” signed off Sharath.
Great effort by the ladies’s group
He additionally praised the ladies’s group, which reached the quarter-finals after successful a gaggle match for the primary time, earlier than being overwhelmed by top-seeded Japan for a spot within the semi-finals. “It was a great achievement by our women’s team. That’s why I said earlier that it will be a new beginning for table tennis in our country. More to come,” Sharath mentioned.
Sleep-deprived Indian ladies superior to the quarter-finals after beating Uzbekistan 3-0 within the group-winning match on Wednesday morning. A league match between Iran and Indonesia went to the wire for taking essentially the most consideration and time, at the same time as India’s second and ultimate group match in opposition to Nepal to resolve the Group 1 leaders on Tuesday Late at night time too. India additionally defeated Jordan within the first group match on Tuesday. The Indians arrived right here with out their prime star Manika Batra, who was turned away after failing to attend the obligatory nationwide camp in Sonepat.
Meanwhile on Thursday they beat Chinese Taipei 5 to eight for a spot. And within the struggle for fifth place on Friday, they may face Thailand, who beat Kazakhstan 3-2 from 5-8 locations. The losers, Chinese Taipei and Thailand, would struggle for positions 7 and eight.
Result
Female (ranked fifth to eighth)
Chinese Taipei misplaced to India (Cheng Sein-tzu misplaced to Archana Girish Kamath 4-11, September 11, 12-10, 11-13; Liu Hing-yin bt Sutirtha Mukherjee 4-11, 14-12, 11 -5, 11-4; misplaced to Lee Yu-jhun Sreeja Akula 4-11, 6-11, 11-7,4-11; 2-11, 4-11, 5-11 to Cheng Sein-tzu Sutirth misplaced to
.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
