India’s women’s table tennis team reached the Asian Games quarter-finals after defeating Thailand 3-2 in a closely fought pre-quarterfinal tie. Yashaswini Ghorpade was central to the comeback, winning both of her matches as India recovered after twice falling behind.
Sreeja Akula lost the opening match to Orawan Paranang despite winning the first two games. Ghorpade then levelled the tie with a 3-2 victory over Suthasini Sawettabut, fighting back after trailing 1-2 and taking the final two games 11-9, 11-9.
Thailand regained the lead when Diya Chitale lost to Jinnipa Sawettabut in another five-game contest. Ghorpade then produced a dominant performance against Paranang, winning 11-5, 11-8, 11-9 to make it 2-2.
Sreeja returned for the deciding match against Suthasini and completed the comeback with a 9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8 victory. India will now face North Korea in the quarter-finals, with a win securing a medal.
The Indian women’s team has remained unbeaten in the tournament after also winning all three group matches.
India’s men’s team, however, exited the competition after losing 0-3 to South Korea in the pre-quarter-finals. Harmeet Desai lost to Jang Woojin, Manush Shah was beaten by Oh Junsung and Manav Thakkar went down against An Jaehyun.
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