Asian Games: India women beat Singapore for second straight TT win, men lose to Iran

Toyota: India women’s table tennis registered a come-from-behind win against Singapore in a thrilling second tie in Group F at the Sky Hall Toyota here on Sunday.

India were trailing 1-2 against Singapore before Sreeja Akula and Yashaswini Ghorpade staged a comeback to win their matches and hand India a 3-2 win in their second Group F tie. They had earlier beaten Indonesia in their opener 3-0.

After their first two ties, the Indian side is on top of Group F with four points from three matches, and they will be meeting Pakistan next in their last group-stage outing on Monday.

Against Singapore, Yashaswini started strongly with a 3-1 win over Jian Zeng before Sreeja came second best in a thrilling five-game encounter against Ming Loy. She lost 2-3 as Singapore levelled the tie before Zhao Tan defeated Diya Chitale in four games to help Singapore lead the tie 2-1.

With their backs against the wall, the Indian team staged a comeback as Sreeja came roaring in her second match after losing the first game 6-11. She won the next three games 11-3, 11-7, 11-4 to win the match 3-1 as India levelled the tie 2-2.

Yashaswini, who started with a win in the first match against Singapore, then returned for the decider and showed nerves of steel to win 3-2 despite losing the first game 5-11. She won the next two games 11-8, 12-10 but lost the fourth one 4-11. The fifth game also went to the distance before the Indian held her composure to take the final game 11-9 and win the match and the tie for India.

Meanwhile, the men’s team also won their Group F opener against Indonesia by 3-0. Sathiyan Gnanasekran defeated Muhammad Negara 3-0, Manav Thakkar beat Muhammad Junindra 3-2, while Manush Shah beat Affan Pratama 3-0 to hand India a 3-0 victory.

The men’s side also went down in the second tie to Iran 0-3 later. Manush Shah, Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai all lost their matches as India men’s team lost their second group outing.

IANS