Manika Batra in action© AFP
The Indian women TT players on Wednesday created history by winning their first-ever medal — a bronze — at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Astana, after losing to Japan 1-3 in the semifinals. This is India’s maiden medal in women’s team event at Asian Championships. Going first, India’s Ayhika Mukherjee gave a tough fight to Japan’s Miwa Harimoto before losing 2-3 (8-11 11-9 8-11 13-11 7-11). The highly-rated Manika Batra levelled the scores after notching up a 3-0 (11-6 11-5 11-8) win over Satsuki Odo in the second match.
Next in charge, Sutirtha Mukherjee handed Japan the lead, losing 0-3 (9-11 4-11 13-15) against Mima Ito.
The onus was then on Manika to salvage India but she was outplayed by Harimoto, losing 1-3 (3-11 11-6 2-11 3-11).
With Japan taking a 3-1 lead, the last and final match between Ayhika and Odo became inconsequential and was not played.
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