Asian Games 2023: Indian men's & women's table tennis teams enter pre-quarterfinals with 3-0 wins

India's men's and women's table tennis teams entered the pre-quarterfinals of the Asian Games 2023 after comfortably defeating Tajikistan and Nepal 3-0 respectively in their Group F matches on Saturday.

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Meanwhile, the Indian women's team won both its matches of Asian Games 2023 and topped the group. The men's team also won all three of its matches. The Indian women's team, which defeated Singapore on Friday, made a great start against Nepal. Manika Batra and Sreeja Akula were rested in this match. Earlier, the women's team had defeated Singapore 3-2.

Diya Chitale defeated Nepal's Sikka Shrestha 11-1, 11-6, 11-8. The Indian paddler didn't waste a single moment to establish her dominance in the game. Within a blink of an eye, she took away the first game by 11-1. She continued to ride on her confidence and took a comfortable five-point lead with the scores reading 7-2. Shrestha tried to stitch up a comeback but it wasn't enough as Diya took away the second game by 11-6. In the third game, Shrestha failed to put pressure on the Indian paddler as Diya sealed the third game by 11-8 and wrapped the first game quickly to hand India an early lead.

While Ayhika Mukherjee defeated Nabita Shrestha 11-3, 11-7, 11-2, she started the game with a 2-1 lead and then converted it into a 5-3 scoreline. Ayhika went on to extend her lead to six points and take away the first game with the scoreline reading 9-3. She stole away the first game in six minutes by 11-3. Nabita put up a challenge to Ayhika in the second game as they battled hard for each point. But the Indian paddler rose to the challenge and took away the second game with 11-7 and took a 2-0 lead in the second match. Nabita lacked intensity in the third game which allowed Ayhika to walk away with a 11-2 win and give India a 2-0 lead over Nepal in the match.

Sutirtha Mukherjee defeated Evana Thapa Magar 11-1, 11-1. 5, 11-2 in the third match with the aim of wrapping up the game quickly for India. Sutirtha didn't allow Evana to breathe for a single moment as she made the scoreline read 8-0 in her favour within a flash. Evana managed to take a single point in the first game as the Indian took a comfortable 11-1 victory in the first game. A similar story unfolded in the second and third games as Sutirtha won the second game by 11-5 and 11-2 respectively.

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On the other hand, Earlier, the Indian men's team registered an easy win against Tajikistan despite the absence of experienced Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Achanta Sharath Kamal. Manav Thakkar defeated Mahmudov Afzalkhon 11-8, 11-5, 11-8. While Manush Shah defeated Ubaydullo Sultonov 13-11, 11-7, 11-5 and Harmeet Desai defeated Ibrokhim Ismoilzoda 11-1, 11-1.

Earlier, the Indian men's table tennis team had registered a comfortable 3-0 win over Yemen on Friday. Experienced Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan, and Harmeet Desai did not have to make any efforts to win the game in straight games. After this, they also defeated Singapore 3-1.