Asian Games table tennis: Chitale and Shah storm into mixed doubles semis

India's Diya Chitale and Manush Shah stunned Hong Kong's world No. 4 pair Doo Hoi Kem and Wong Chun Ting 3-1 to reach the Asian Games mixed doubles semifinals and assure the country of a table tennis medal

Nagoya: India’s Manush Shah and Diya Chitale stunned world No. 4 pair Doo Hoi Kem and Wong Chun Ting of Hong Kong in the mixed doubles quarterfinals to assure India of a medal in table tennis at the Asian Games here on Friday.

Chitale and Shah won 3-1 (11-6, 13-15, 11-9, 11-5) to reach the semifinals, securing India’s first table tennis medal of the ongoing Games.

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It is India’s second mixed doubles medal at the Asian Games after Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra won bronze in Jakarta eight years ago.

The Indian duo will face China’s Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin in the semifinals later in the day.

Shah also advanced in men’s singles with a 4-0 win over Iran’s Benyamin Faraji, while Yashaswini Ghorpade beat Syria’s Hend Zaza 4-1 (11-5, 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-4) to book her spot in the women’s singles round of 16.

However, it was otherwise a disappointing day for the Indian paddlers.

Manav Thakkar bowed out in the round of 32 after a 2-4 (11-4, 2-11, 7-11, 7-11, 11-4, 3-11) defeat to North Korea’s U Tae Ryong, while Sreeja Akula also exited at the same stage, going down 1-4 (7-11, 8-11, 13-11, 7-11, 7-11) to Pyon Song Gyong.

Both Indian men’s doubles pairs also exited in the round of 16 and round of 32, respectively.

Harmeet Desai and G Sathiyan, who had battled past Indonesia’s Muhammad Negara and Affan Pratama 3-2 (11-4, 11-7, 7-11, 8-11, 11-6) in the round of 32, were beaten 0-3 (5-11, 9-11, 9-11) by Japan’s Sora Matsushima and Shunsuke Togami.

Shah and Thakkar went down 1-3 (7-11, 9-11, 11-7, 6-11) to Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto and Hiroto Shinnozuka in the round of 32.

Sreeja and Syndrela Das exited in the women’s doubles pre-quarterfinals after a 0-3 (6-11, 7-11, 7-11) loss to China’s world No. 2 pair Kuai Man and Wang Manyu.

Yashaswini and Chitale also bowed out at the same stage, losing 0-3 (7-11, 5-11, 8-11) to China’s Fan Shuhan and Chen Yi.

Yashaswini’s mixed doubles campaign also ended in the pre-quarterfinals, with her and Harmeet going down 0-3 (5-11, 10-12, 9-11) to China’s Lin Shidong and Kuai Man.