Ayhika Mukherjee & Sutirtha Mukherjee assure medal in Asian Table Tennis Championships 2024

In table tennis, India’s top-ranked women’s doubles pair of Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee assured themselves of a historic medal by reaching the semi-finals of the Asian Table Tennis Championships 2024 in Astana, Kazakhstan, yesterday. Ayhika and Sutirtha will be the first all-Indian women’s doubles table tennis pair to win a medal at the Asian Championships. Gool Nasikwala won a gold medal in women’s doubles with Japan’s Yoshiko Tanaka in the inaugural edition played in 1952.

The Mukherjees defeated the Republic of Korea’s makeshift pair of Kim Nayeong and Lee Eunhye in the quarterfinals. The Indian table tennis players will face Japan’s world No. 33 Miwa Harimoto and Miyuu Kihara in the semi-finals today. At the Asian Games last year, Ayhika and Sutirtha created history by winning India’s first medal, a bronze, in the women’s doubles table tennis at the continental games. In men’s singles, Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar shocked higher-ranked South Korean opponents before losing in the round of 16.

In the round of 32 Manush Shah defeated South Korean An Jaehyun. Manav Thakkar won 3-2 against Jang Woojin. In the round of 16, Shah lost 3-2 to Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju, while Thakkar was beaten 3-0 by Hong Kong China’s Chan Baldwin. Harmeet Desai, ranked 91st, lost 3-0 to South Korea’s Lim Jonghoon in his round of 32 match. The Indian men’s and women’s teams won bronze medals earlier in the competition. The Asian Table Tennis Championships 2024 will conclude today.