India paddler Sutirtha Mukherjee made her presence felt on Monday as she clearly had the best backhand on view during the women’s doubles semi-final alongside partner Ayhika Mukherjee against North Korea’s Suyong Cha and Sugyong Pak at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Gymnasium. India paddler Sutirtha Mukherjee showed remarkable agility and skill.

The Indians eventually lost 3-4 (11-7, 8-11, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-5, 2-11) to settle for a historic bronze medal, but not before giving the North Koreans a scare throughout the 69-minute encounter. And it was Sutirtha, 27, who played the occasional aggressor, while Ayhika, 26, used her special anti-type backhand rubber surface to great effect, negating the pace and turn of whatever was sent across the net by the opposition. The two teams went neck-to-neck till Game 7, before suddenly the cookie crumbled. India coach Mamata Prabhu explained what went wrong.