Table Tennis
Yashaswini Ghorpade shines at Asian Junior & Cadet Table Tennis
Yashaswini Ghorpade created history when she became the first Indian woman to assure India of a singles medal in the U19 section at the Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships.
Young Indian paddler Yashaswini Ghorpade, on Monday, created history when she became the first Indian woman to assure India of a singles medal in the U19 section at the Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships.
The 16-year-old also reached the final of U-19 mixed doubles partnering Payas Jain, thus becoming the first Indian pair to do so. Ghorpade is now assured of returning from the junior continental championships with two medals.
Payas, who had earlier won the men's u19 team bronze, is also confirmed of his second medal.
Ghorpade, on Monday, received a bye in the singles Round of 16 before defeating China's Geman Zong 4-2 in the quarterfinals and assuring herself of a medal finish. She will now face Yi Chen in the semifinal and would be eyeing to deny the Chinese an all-China final in women's U19 singles.
With her win in the quarterfinals, Ghorpade becomes the the first Indian woman and only the second Indian to win a Junior singles medal at the Asian Championships. The only other person to achieve this feat is men's paddler Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, who returned with a medal in 2010.
In the U19 mixed doubles section, the Indian pair of Ghorpade and Jain received a bye in the Round of 32, before defeating the pair from Qatar 3-1 in the Round of 16.
The Indians then went on to register a 3-2 win over the duo from South Korea in the quarterfinals before beating Hong Kong's Chan Baldwin ho Wah and Wong Hoi Tung by the same margin in the semifinals.
Yashaswini Ghorpade and Payas Jain will now face China's Xinyuan Han and Yuxuan Qin in the final of U19 mixed doubles.
