The Indian women’s team led by Manika Batra blanked Uzbekistan 3-0, while the men’s team went down by the same margin to South Korea in their respective group stage matches at the 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan on Monday.
Heading into the contest following a 3-2 win over Hungary on Sunday, the Indian women’s team preferred to hand some rest to Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula and bought in Archana Kamath and Diya Chitale into the mix.
Kamath started the proceedings by beating Uzbekistan’s Rimma Gufranova 11-7, 11-3, 11-6 without breaking a sweat.
Batra followed as she took down Markhabo Magdieva 11-7,11-4, 11-1 to extend India’s lead.
Playing the third match of the tie, Chitale was put under a bit of pressure by Rozalina Khadjieva but she managed to register an 11-6, 10-12, 11-4, 11-6 win to secure India’s second consecutive victory after starting their campaign with a loss against China.
However, the Indian men’s team fell to a 0-3 loss to hosts South Korea earlier in the day.
Harmeet Desai, the country’s top ranked paddler, went down 4-11, 10-12, 8-11 to Jang Woojin in the first match before Sathiyan Gnanasekaran lost 5-11, 7-11, 7-11 to Lim Jonghoon.
Veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal put up a fight but eventually lost the match 9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 5-11 as India fell to their second consecutive loss in the tournament.
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