World Table Tennis Championship
May 19 was a mixed results for Indian players at the World Table Tennis Championship 2024 released in Doha. While the pair of Dia Chitle and Yashaswini Ghorpade in the women’s doubles reached the pre-quarterfinals with a stunning victory, the rest of the Indian players suffered defeat. Indian women’s doubles pair Dia Chitle and Yashaswini Ghorpade defeated Singapore pair Jeg Gian and Ser Lynn Qian in the final 32 match. After trailing from a game, the Indian pair made a strong comeback and won the match 6–11, 11–6, 11–6, 11-9. With this victory, both the players reached the pre-quarterfinals of the World Championship.
Sutirtha-Aihika defeated
On the other hand, India’s 14th seeded women’s doubles pair Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee suffered defeat in the straight game by the pair of Germany’s Anette Cofman and Jiaona Shan. The Indian pair lost 1-11, 11-13, 7-11 in just 23 minutes and their campaign ended here. In the mixed doubles category, the Indian pair of Diya Chitle and Manush Shah also lost. The Indian pair was defeated by the pair of Oh Junsung and Kim Nayong of Korea by beating 0-3 (8–11, 9–11, 2–11) to drop them out of the tournament.
Disappointing day for Manush Shah
This day was very disappointing for Indian player Manush Shah. After defeat in the mixed doubles, he also lost in both the male single and male couples. In the second round of the men’s singles, he was defeated by France’s sixth seed Felix Lebran by 0-4 (5–11, 6–11, 6–11, 9–11). After this, the eighth seeded Indian pair of Shah and Manav Thakkar in the men’s doubles lost 5–11, 9-11, 11-8, 5–11 from the pair of Germany’s non-India Benedict Duda and Dang Kiu. For India, now the expectations in the tournament are only on the pair of women’s doubles Diya Chitle and Yashaswini Ghorpade, which has made it to the pre-quarterfinals. Both young players are now expected to perform well.
(PTI Inputs)