India women’s team upsets South Korea in quarter-finals

India progressed to the semi-finals of the Asian Table Tennis Championships 2024 women’s team event after upsetting a strong team from the Republic of Korea in the quarters on Tuesday.

Ayhika Mukherjee starred in India’s 3-2 win in Astana and won both her matches against opponents ranked in the top 20.

Ranked 92nd in the world, Ayhika defeated world No. 8 Shin Yu-bin in the opener before outplaying the 16th-ranked Jeon Ji-hee in the decider under pressure.

Manika Batra accounted for the other victory in the second rubber.

The three members of the second-seeded Korean team - Shin Yu-bin, Jeon Ji-hee and Lee Eun-Hye - had led South Korea to the bronze medal in the women’s team table tennis event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Yu-bin was also one-half of the mixed doubles bronze medal winners from Paris 2024.

Ayhika Mukherjee gave India a dream start by upsetting world No. 8 Shin Yu-bin 3-2 (11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-7) in the opening match. Manika Batra, ranked 29th, made it 2-0 with another impressive win over Jeon (12-14, 13-11, 11-5, 5-11, 12-10).

However, world No. 49 Lee Eun-Hye led the Korean fightback and blanked Sreeja Akula, the best-ranked Indian women’s table tennis player at world No. 26, 3-0 (11-6, 12-10, 11-8).

Batra, playing her reverse singles rubber against Yu-bin, went toe-to-toe with her higher-ranked opponent throughout the contest before eventually succumbing 3-2 in a close contest. The Indian table tennis player was leading 8-4 in the deciding game but couldn’t close the tie.

In the deciding fifth rubber, Ayhika took centre stage yet again. After Jeon took the lead, Ayhika roared back to win the contest 3-1 (7-11, 11-6, 12-10, 12-10) and sealed the match for her team.

Since both losing semi-finalists get bronze at the continental meet, the win also assures India a medal in the women ‘s team event.

The Indian women’s table tennis team will face Japan in the semis on Wednesday. The Indian men’s team will also be in action in the quarter-finals at Astana.

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