TT men clinch historic bronze
Jakarta, Aug. 28: Indian table tennis men’s team settled for a historic bronze medal after losing 0- 3 to South Korea in a lop- sided semifinal at the 18th Asian Games here on Tuesday.
The team comprising G. Sathiyan, Achanta Sharath Kamal and A. Amalraj couldn’t put up a fight against the mighty Koreans, who set up a summit clash against defending champions China in a repeat of 2014 edition.
Rising star G. Sathiyan, ranked 39, suffered a 11- 9, 911, 3- 11, 3- 11 loss to Lee Sangsu in the opening game as India lagged 0- 1.
Experienced Sharath Kamal, World No. 33, was then entrusted with the responsibility to bring India back in the game and he did put up a fight before going down 9- 11, 9- 11, 11- 6, 11- 7, 811 to Young Sik Jeoung in the second match as South Korea lead the tie 2- 0.
In the deciding third game, Amalraj was beaten 5- 11, 711, 11- 4, 7- 11 by 22- year- old Woojin Jang as South Korea clinched the tie 3- 0.
India on Monday defeated Japan 3- 1 in the quarterfinals to assure the country its first- ever Asian Games medal in table tennis.
India did not have a single medal in the sport which was introduced in the Games program in 1958. The likes of China ( 61 gold), Japan ( 20) and South Korea ( 10) swept the medals for long time.
Silver and bronze from Kurash
India on Tuesday bagged two medals in Kurash, a form of wrestling indigenous to central Asia, with Pincky Balhara and Malaprabha Yallappa Jadhav winning silver and bronze respectively in the women’s 52kg category on Wednesday.
The 19- year- old Pincky lost 0- 10 to favourite Gulnor Sulaymanova of Uzbekistan in the gold medal clash to settle for the silver.
Pincky earlier defeated Tsou Chiawen of Taipei 5- 0 in Round of 16 before getting the better of Susanti Terry Kusumawardani of Sri Lanka 3- 0 in the quarterfinals. She beat Abdumajidova Oysuluv of Uzbekistan 1- 0 in the Last Four stage.
Yallappa lost to Sulaymanova 0- 10 in semifinal to claim the bronze as both the semifinalists are assured of medals.