India’s
Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade have secured at least a bronze medal in mixed doubles at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Tashkent. The Indian pair defeated South Korea’s Park Ganghyeon and Lee Daeun 3-2 in the quarterfinals on Friday to reach the semifinals.
Their achievement marks a major milestone for Indian table tennis, as the country has secured a mixed doubles medal at the continental championships for the first time in 72 years. India’s last medal in the event came in 1954.
Harmeet and Yashaswini will next take on Japan’s Sora Matsushima and Miwa Harimoto in the semifinals. A victory would send the Indian duo into the final and give them a chance to fight for gold.
However, India’s other mixed doubles pair, Payas Jain and Syndrela Das, could not reach the medal stage. They lost 0-3 to China’s Yi Chen and Huang Youzheng in their quarterfinal match.
Indian pair looks to make up for Asian Games disappointment
Harmeet and Yashaswini will be hoping to build on their performance after missing out on medals at the recent Asian Games.
Harmeet competed in three events at the Games. In the men’s team competition, India reached the round of 16 before losing to South Korea. He and Yashaswini were eliminated in the mixed doubles quarterfinals by China’s Lin Shidong and Kuai Man.
Harmeet also partnered Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in men’s doubles, but their campaign ended in the third round after a defeat to Japan’s Sora Matsushima and Shunsuke Togami.
Yashaswini also returned without a medal. She lost to Japan’s Miwa Harimoto in the third round of women’s singles. In women’s doubles, she and Diya Chitale reached the quarterfinals but lost 0-3 to China’s Fan Shuhan and Chen Yi.
The semifinal now gives Harmeet and Yashaswini an opportunity to secure a historic result for India.