Asian Table Tennis C'ships: Sutirtha-Ayhika advance to quarterfinal

Asian Games medalist and India's no.1 women's doubles pairing of Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee progressed to the quarterfinal of the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan on Friday.

They are now just a win away from securing India's first-ever medal in the women's doubles category at the ATTU Table Tennis Championships.

The pair booked their spot in the quarterfinal without dropping any games and clinched two straight game wins over Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan pairs in the second and third rounds respectively.

The world no.15 Indian pair will now take on the South Korean pair of Kim Nayeong and Lee Eunhye in the quarterfinal match tomorrow.

However, the second Indian women's doubles pairing of Manika Batra and Diya Chitale suffered a round of 16 exit in a tightly fought five-game (3-11, 11-9, 8-1, 11-9, 7-11) match against Thai pairing of Suthasini and Orawan.

End of the road for men's doubles

Indian campaign is over in the men's doubles department as both the Indian pairs suffered a very tough defeat after a five-game intense battle in the pre-quarterfinals.

Firstly, the India no.1 pairing of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah conceded a five-game(11-7, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 4-11) defeat to the Hong Kong Pairing of Chan Baldwin and Wong Chun Ting.

Then, the pairing of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai also go down in a five-game (7-11, 11-9, 11-4, 8-11, 8-11) battle against the Singapore pairing of Pamg Yew and Quek Izaac.

Four players reached the third round of women's singles

Indian players performed well in the women's singles department, with four out of five reaching the third round of the competition.

The day began with Ayhika Mukherjee defeating Cha Su Yong of North Korea in straight games (11-6, 11-7, 11-9), followed by Diya Chitale, who overcame her Mongolian opponent, Undram Munkhbat, in a straight-game affair (11-4, 11-6, 11-5).

Later, Sreeja Akula joined her compatriots, easily defeating her Mongolian opponent, Baljinnyam Uvgunburged, in three games (11-5, 14-12, 11-5) to advance to the round of 32.

On the other hand, Manika Batra faced a tough challenge from young Philippine paddler Kheith Cruz but managed to win the match in a close four-game contest (9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 14-12) to progress further.

Meanwhile, Sutirtha Mukherjee was the only player to suffer a defeat, losing in straight games (8-11, 5-11, 6-11) to Paris Olympic medalist Kum Yong Kim of North Korea in the round of 64.