Asian Games: Indian men's table tennis team eliminated by South Korea

Indian men's table tennis team's impressive run at the 19th Asian Games came to an abrupt end on Sunday after South Korea thrashed it 3-0 in the quarterfinal at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Gymnasium in Hangzhou.

Coming back from a hard-fought 3-2 win over Kazakhstan in the pre-quarterfinal, Harmeet Desai opened India's attack against Korea's An Jaehyun. But Harmeet could not match the world no. 38 Jaehyun's quick game. Harmeet eventually lost in straight games (9-11, 8-11, 9-11) to concede a 1-0 lead to South Korea.

Playing the second match, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran displayed a great fighting spirit and took a 2-0 lead over Park Ganghyeon. But the Korean shuttler held on to his nerves under pressure and turned things around in his favour, winning the next three games with an attacking play to help South Korea take a crucial 2-0 lead.

Park won the 46-minute thriller 3-2 (12-10, 11-5, 7-11, 8-11, 6-11).

Achanta Sharath Kamal, playing the third match with Korea looking to wrap up the contest, took an 11-2 lead over OH Junsung. But the Korean paddler fought back to win the next two games 11-9, 11-1.

Sharath Kamal would draw level in the fourth game to make it 2-2 in the match. In the deciding fifth game, Sharath Kamal was on the match point at 10-9, but Junsung forced a deuce and claimed the next two points to win the game 12-10 and the match 3-2.

Sharath Kamal lost 11-2, 9-11, 1-11, 11-2, 10-12 in 43 minutes as South Korea advanced to the semifinals with a 3-0 win.

With the men's team's exit, India's campaign in team events came to an end.

Earlier today, the Indian women's team suffered a loss of 2-3 against Thailand in the pre-quarterfinal.

Indian paddlers will be in action in individual events from Monday.