World Team Table Tennis C’ships: Indian men, women both knocked out in pre-quarters

Both the Indian teams were knocked out of the 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships in the Round of 16 on Wednesday.

While the Indian women’s tea suffered a 1-3 loss to Chinese Taipei, the Indian men were beaten 0-3 by hosts South Korea.

The Indian women’s team started off well in the tie as the country’s top ranked paddler Manika Batra got the better of former world No 10 Chen Szu-Yu 11-8, 8-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-9 in a come from behind victory.

However, that remained India’s only win in the knockout tie as Chinese Taipei won the next three matches to move into the quarter-finals.

If Sreeja Akula lost 6-11, 9-11, 5-11 in straight games to world No 10 Chen I-Ching, Ayhika Mukherjee, who had defeated world No 1 Sun Yingsha in the group stage, went down 10-12, 13-15, 11-9, 2-11 to a higher-ranked Li Yu-Jhun as Chinese Taipei took a 2-1 lead.

With a spot in the quarter-finals at stake, Batra put her best foot forward against I-Ching but lost 10-12, 11-5, 9-11, 5-11 to crash out of the competition.

Unlike the women, the Indian men weren’t able to win a single match in the tie with Harmeet Desai losing 0-3 (10-12, 11-13, 7-11) to Jang Woojin and...

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