Asian Games: Indian TT team aims to continue momentum

India’s table tennis contingent will be aiming to continue their winning run at the ongoing Asian Games. The event will officially kickstart from today with an opening ceremony. The men’s team started its Asian Games campaign on a dominating note, defeating Yemen 3-0. Playing at the GSP Gymnasium Table 7, India demolished Yemen in its campaign opener. Sathiyan won the first match of the tie to register a dominating 11-3,11-2,11-6 triumph over Ali Omar Ahmed of Yemen in just 13 minutes. The victory gave India a 1-0 lead. In the second match of the tie, Sharath produced a spectacular performance 11-3, 11-4, 11-6 to help India take a 2-0 lead over Yemen. The Indian ace took just 17 minutes to quash the challenge from Yemen’s Ebrahim Abdulhakim Mohamm Gubran. Harmeet Desai sealed the deal for India as he gave his team a comfortable 3-0 victory over Yemen. Although Harmeet was offered the first two games 11-1, 11-1, on a platter, Magd Ahmed Ali Aldhubhani made the Indian’s life a bit difficult in the potential decider. The decider, six minutes long, eventually went 11-7 in favour of Harmeet. Later, in the second match, India defeated Singapore 3-1 to win their second match of the day on Friday. Sathiyan Gnanasekaran won the thriller against Izaac Yong in men’s singles 5-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9 in the opening tie. In the second match, Harmeet did not start well as he was trailed by four points at one juncture but made a comeback to win the first game 12-10 in 11 minutes. Harmeet provided 2-0 to the team by winning the second match by 12-10, 11-8, 6-11, 6-11, 11-5. Achanta Sharath Kamal had hard luck as he lost his game against Zhe Yu Clarence Chew. Sharath Kamal struggled against Zhu Yu Clarance Chew, losing the 11-13, 11-9, 12-10, 5-11 and Singapore was still in the game at 2-1. India clinched the match against Singapore after Sathiyan won the fourth tie 11-7, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6 against Pang. India won the tie by 3-1.