India women stage 3-2 comeback against Singapore, men lose to Iran

India’s women’s table tennis team fought back from 1-2 down to beat Singapore 3-2 in their Asian Games Group F match. The men’s team, however, suffered a 0-3 defeat against Iran after opening with wins over Indonesia

Toyota: The Indian women’s team scripted a fine comeback to register a 3-2 win over Singapore in a Group F match, but their men’s counterparts suffered a 0-3 loss to Iran in another Group F match of the table tennis event at the Asian Games here on Sunday.

India were staring at defeat after trailing 1-2 before Sreeja Akula and Yashaswini Ghorpade secured crucial wins to clinch the tie.

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Opening the proceedings, Ghorpade defeated Jian Zeng 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9.

But Sreeja Akula suffered a narrow 8-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-4, 6-11 loss to Loy Ming in the second match.

Diya Chitale too went down 7-11, 4-11, 11-7, 5-11 against Tan Zhao to concede a 1-2 lead to Singapore.

Returning for a must-win match against Zeng Jian, Sreeja shrugged off the earlier loss to register a 6-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-4 win to level the tie at 2-2.

In the decider, Ghorpade beat Loy Ming 5-11, 11-8, 12-10, 4-11, 11-9 to notch up a memorable win for India.

However, it was a disappointing performance from the men’s team as, apart from Harmeet Desai, none of the other paddlers could put up a fight.

Manush Shah went down 3-11, 8-11, 10-12 to Noshad Alamiyan in the opening match, while Manav Thakkar lost 2-11, 6-11, 6-11 to Benyamin Faraji as India slipped to 0-2.

Harmeet then tried to put up a fight before succumbing to a 10-12, 15-13, 3-11, 12-10, 2-11 loss to Alamiyan.

Both Indian men’s and women’s teams will next face Pakistan on Monday.

Earlier, India’s men’s and women’s teams began their campaigns with identical 3-0 wins over Indonesia in their respective Group F openers.

The women’s team began on a winning note as Sreeja, Diya and Yashaswini 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 is clubbed with Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia.