Jakarta, August 29: The Indian pair of Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra settled for a bronze medal after losing their mixed doubles semifinal to China's Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha 9-11, 5-11, 13-11, 4-11, 8-11 at the Asian Games 2018 on Wednesday (August 29).
A couple of unforced errors led to the defeat but it was India's first medal in the mixed doubles event at the Asian Games, nonetheless. In fact, Batra, 23, became the first Indian woman to clinch any medal in the sport. On Tuesday, the men's team returned India's first-ever Asiad medal in table tennis, a bronze.
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Kamal and Batra appeared inspired from the bronze medal the previous day and rose from strength to strength during the campaign.
A huge round of applause for our TT team of @manikabatra_TT & @sharathkamal1 for winning 🥉in mixed doubles TT at #ASIANGAMES2018. Special Congratulations to Manika for becoming the 1st Female Asiad Medallist from India in TT ✌🏻👏🎉 #KheloIndia #IndiaAtAsianGames pic.twitter.com/wjVpDv92qD
— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) August 29, 2018
They had a tough encounter in the quarterfinals but eventually prevailed over North Korea's Ji Song An/Hyo Sim Cha 3-2 to assure themselves of a medal. Kamal and Batra defeated the duo 4-11 12-10 6-11 11-6 11-8 in a thrilling contest that lasted 38 minutes.
It was tougher in the semifinal though as they were down 0-2 in the seven-game contest as the Chinese took away the momentum of the game.
Kamal fought back in the third game and stayed in the contest with a 11-minute 13-11. However, they couldn't hold the advantage in the fourth, losing tamely 4-11. The fifth game was a challenging one but it slipped from the Indian duo in nine minutes and sent the Chinese into the final.
"Manika Batra" is the first female Asiad medalist from India in Table Tennis. I congratulate @manikabatra_TT for this achievement & wish her best for semi final match. 👏👏👏
— Totlani Krishan (@kktotlani) August 29, 2018
The other mixed doubles pair of Anthony Amalraj and Madhurika Patkar crashed out in the Round of 16, losing to Hong Kong's Ho Kwan Kit and Lee Ho Ching 3-1 (6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-4).
Batra and Kamal, meanwhile, braved through the Round of 32 over Malaysia's Choong Javen/Dick Karen Lyne 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-8) and Lee Sangsu/Jeon Jihee of Korea 3-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-4).
MEDAL NO: 51 🥉 FOR INDIA 🇮🇳
— Sports Sutra 🇮🇳 (@SpoSutra) August 29, 2018
Mixed Doubles pair #ManikaBatra / #AchantaSharathKamal went down to Chinese pair in the Semi Final settling for BRONZE 🥉and INDIA'S FIRST EVER MIXED DOUBLES MEDAL in #TableTennis at #AsianGames
Congratulations champions ! 🇮🇳#AsianGames2018 pic.twitter.com/jd77qSIOjQ
"In the mixed doubles, the role of the female player is very important. More often than not, it actually decides who is going to win the match," Kamal said after the match. "It has been an unbelievable campaign so far. Not even in my wildest dreams I thought of winning a medal at the Asian Games. Now I have got too. I am still pinching myself," added Kamal.
(With PTI inputs)