The Indian men's team started their campaign with a 3-0 win over Chile at the ongoing International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Team Championships at Busan on Saturday. India secured a clean sweep over Chile to secure a third-place standing in their group three, with Chile (one win and a loss with two points) and South Korea (two wins with four points) above them.
First, it was the experienced Achanta Sharath Kamal, multi-time Commonwealth Games medalist against Burgos Nicholas. He dominated the proceedings and won 11-5, 11-8, 11-6. India took a 1-0 lead.
Harmeet Desai was next up against Gustavo Gomez. He also followed Kamal's footsteps, barely giving his opponent a chance to fight back and won 11-8, 11-7, 11-6.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran was next up against Olivares Felipe. This tie was most competitive, but the Indian held his nerves well to secure a 12-10, 11-8, 11-8 win over the Chilean. India will next take on Poland on Sunday.
Indian women's team loses to China:
Notably, the Indian women's team, led by Ayhika Mukherjee, Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula fell short in front of China in the World Team Table Tennis Championships 2024 fixture on Friday in Busan but not without making a contest out of it and adding to their reputation.
Each tie consists of a maximum of five singles games in the World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals. The first side to win three matches wins the tie. In the first match, Ayhika clinched a win against Sun Yingsha by 3-1 (10-12, 11-2, 11-13, 6-11) and got an early lead against China.
In the second game, Manika Batra lost to Wang Manyu 3-1 (11-3, 11-8, 13-15, 11-7) as China equalised the score.
Sreeja sealed a victory over Wang Yidi by 3-0 (7-11, 9-11, 11-13) in the third match and gave India a lead for the second time in the tie.
However, China sealed two consecutive matches to clinch the tie against India by 3-2. Sun Yingsha won over Manika Batra by 3-1 (11-3, 11-6, 11-13, 11-9) in the fourth game. Wang Manyu beat Ayhika 3-0 (11-9, 13-11, 11-6) in the final match.
Ayhika-led Indian women's side will play against Hungary in their upcoming fixture on Sunday.
