Asian Games 2023: Sutirtha-Aihika create history, reach women's double semis

Sutirtha Mukherjee and Aihika Mukherjee shocked world champion Chinese pair Chen Meng and Yidi Wang to enter the womens doubles semifinals assuring India a historic table tennis medal at the Asian Games 2023 on SaturdayIn the quarterfinals Sutirtha and Aihika won 115 115 511 119 and the victory over World No 2 Chinese duo is all the more significant because India have never won a medal in the womens doubles event in the Asian GamesThe Indian players never allowed their superior opponents to settle down right from the goThe Chinese duo was expected to roll over their opponents and it happened precisely the opposite as the Indians won the first game in just 8 minutesThe trend followed in the second game too as the Indians wrapped it in just 9 minutes as the Chinese players committed several unforced errors particularly on the forehandThe home side players mounted a brief fightback winning the third gameBut the Indians regrouped quickly to assert themselves in the fourth gameThe epic winning moment came when Meng sprayed her forehand into the netEarlier Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika Batra produced an errorfilled game to make an early exit in the quarterfinals of the womens singles table tennis competitionManika went down against world No 4 Yidi Wang of China 811 1210 611 411 1412 511 and her defeat also marked the end of Indias campaign in the singles event at the Hangzhou GamesThe ace Indian paddler lost the first game 811 as she showed a distinct weakness on her backhandEven when she won the second and fifth games it was more about the Chinese player making unforced errors in her eagerness to close out the pointsThe classic example came in the fifth game when the Chinese sprayed an easy forehand while leading 1110 which allowed Manika to claw backBut in the sixth game Wang regained her focus and peppered Manikas backhand with powerful shots that the latter failed to reply properlyAlso ReadAsian Games India regain squash gold after 8 yrs with win over PakistanManika tried to fight back with a couple of powerful forehands but Wangs astonishing retrieving ability left the Indian frustratedFittingly a backhand error from Manika that brought the match to an endWangs laserguided forehand found Manika fumbling as her backhand return sailed well wide of the tableEarlier Indias mens double pair of Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar also bowed out in the quarterfinalsThey were beaten by South Korean pair Woojin Jang and Jonghoon Lim 811 117 1012 116 911 in the last eightThe Indians were leading 62 in the fifth game which later transpired to 99 but they squandered the chances to go down against the KoreansWe fought really well We took the game to 99 in the last set We were very close to winning but we have to take the learnings and move forward said Manush after the defeatOn the experience of playing against the World No 1 Korean pair Manush said They are probably the toughest opponents We had some strategies and moves that we wanted to execute and which we did But in the end we couldnt prevailWith agency inputs