The Indian women’s team led by Manika Batra, delivered a strong performance to blank Uzbekistan 3-0, registering their second consecutive victory in Group 1 of the 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan today.
After a 3-2 win over Hungary on Sunday, the Indian women’s team opted to rest Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula, introducing Archana Kamath and Diya Chitale to the lineup.
Kamath started the proceedings by easily defeating Uzbekistan’s Rimma Gufranova 11-7, 11-3, 11-6. Batra followed suit, defeating Markhabo Magdieva 11-7, 11-4, 11-1, furthering India’s advantage. Chitale faced pressure from Rozalina Khadjieva in the third set, but she managed to secure a victory of 11-6, 10-12, 11-4, 11-6, giving India its second consecutive win after the loss to China.
However, the Indian men’s squad experienced a setback with a 0-3 loss against hosts South Korea earlier in the day.
Harmeet Desai, India’s highest-ranked men’s singles player at world No. 67, faced a defeat against Korea’s Woojin Jang in the opening match, losing 3-0 (11-4, 12-10, 11-8). Meanwhile, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran suffered a defeat against Lim Jonghoon with scores of 5-11, 7-11, 7-11.
Four-time Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal fought hard but lost the match 9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 5-11. India faced their second consecutive loss in the competition.
The Indian men’s team will now face New Zealand next on Tuesday, while the women’s team will take on Spain.