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The Indian men lost to Chinese Taipei in the semifinal of the team event at the Asian Table Tennis Championships on Thursday, but in the process, secured a third consecutive bronze medal in this event. This was also India’s seventh medal at the Asian Championships and added to the bronze medal won by the women’s team at this event.
India lost 3-0, managing to take only one game across the three matches, as Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manav Thakkar, and Harmeet Desai all lost to higher-ranked opponents in the semifinal.
2021🥉!☑️
2023🥉!☑️
2024🥉!☑️#TeamIndia #AsianChampionships pic.twitter.com/zDO7lQH3lV– SAI Media (@Media_SAI) October 10, 2024
In the first match of the tie, Sharath lost in straight games to world no.11 Lin Yun-Ju. Sharath took the lead in both the second and third games but was unable to capitalise and Lin took the win by a 11-7 12-10 11-9 scoreline.
Then Thakkar took a game off world no 22 Kao Cheng-Jui but the man from Chinese Taipei won 11-9 8-11 11-3 13-11, leaving India 2-0 down, and with a mountain to climb.
They didn’t even threaten the notion of a big comeback, as Desai lost to world no 70 Huang Yan-cheng 6-11 9-11 7-11 in straight games to end India’s fight in the semifinal.
After the high of the quarterfinal against Kazakhstan, India would’ve gone into the semifinal with some confidence, even though the Chinese Taipei players were much higher ranked. The nature of the wins against Kazakhstan, including a stunning sealing victory for Desai, lit a ray of hope for India, but that was quickly snuffed out by Chinese Taipei, who were ruthless in each of the three matches, and didn’t give the Indians any chance.
Chinese Taipei will now face China in the final. For India, however, they will be looking for the next step to take now. Three bronze medals in a row speaks to a level of consistency at this level, but now the big target will have to be to cross the semifinal hurdle first. India must look to establish themselves in that chasing pack behind China, both at Asian and world level.
For context, even at Asian Games level, India have only won one bronze medal, which came in Jakarta back in 2018. That shows that they haven’t been able to take their level of play from Asian Championships to Asian Games, even though there must be some allowances given for tough draws, such as the one at the Paris Olympics, when they faced China in their very first outing there.
However, in the quest for improvement, it shouldn’t be underplayed that India’s men are now three-time consecutive bronze medallists at the Asian Championships.