Manika Batra in action©AFP
Indian TT players created history on Wednesday by winning their first ever medal – a bronze – at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Astana, after losing to Japan 1-3 in the semi-final. This is India’s first medal in the women’s team event at the Asian Championships. In the lead, the Indian Ayhika Mukherjee put up a tough fight against the Japanese Miwa Harimoto before losing 2-3 (8-11 11-9 8-11 13-11 7-11). The highly rated Manika Batra leveled the scores after securing a 3-0 (11-6 11-5 11-8) victory over Satsuki Odo in the second match.
Sutirtha Mukherjee, next in command, gave Japan the lead, losing 0-3 (9-11 4-11 13-15) to Mima Ito.
It was then up to Manika to save India, but she was outplayed by Harimoto, losing 1-3 (3-11 11-6 2-11 3-11).
With Japan leading 3-1, the last and final match between Ayhika and Odo became inconsequential and was not played.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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