Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], September 22 (ANI): India rallied from behind to defeat Thailand 3-2 in a thrilling women’s team table tennis Round of 16 tie at the Asian Games 2026 on Tuesday, with Sreeja Akula sealing the win in the deciding match.
India made a difficult start to the tie as Orawan Paranang came from two games down to defeat Sreeja 7-11, 1-11, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10, giving Thailand a 1-0 lead.
Yashaswini Ghorpade then levelled the contest with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Suthasini Sawettabut. Yashaswini won the opening game 11-8 but dropped the next two 5-11, 7-11 before fighting back to take the fourth and fifth games 11-9, 11-9.
Thailand regained the lead when Diya Chitale lost a closely fought five-game encounter against Jinnapan Sawettabut. Chitale had a match point at 10-9 in the deciding game, but her opponent held her nerve to win 13-11, with the match ending 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 7-11, 11-13.
With India trailing 1-2, Yashaswini produced a dominant performance against Paranang, winning 11-5, 11-8, 11-9 in just 21 minutes to make it 2-2 and force a deciding match.
Sreeja then delivered under pressure against Suthasini in the decider. After losing the opening game 9-11, she won the next two 11-6, 12-10 to take a 2-1 lead.
The Indian paddler was 6-8 down in the fourth game but produced a strong finish, winning five consecutive points to close out the game and the match. Sreeja won 11-9, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8 to send India into the quarterfinals. India will face North Korea in the women’s team quarterfinal.
India are having a mixed outing at the Asian Games, with Sakshi Chaudhary defeating Philippines’ Aira Villegas in the women’s 51kg boxing Round of 32, while India’s men’s kabaddi team beat South Korea 63-31 in Group A.
In shooting, Elavenil Valarivan and Parth Mane finished second in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team qualification but ended fourth in the final. Jay Meena defeated Pakistan’s Hussain Arain 4-0 in men’s singles Group D in soft tennis, while Aadhya Tiwari lost 1-4 to Thailand’s Alisha Ziegler in women’s singles.
Wushu’s Langlentombi Devi Hanjabam finished ninth in the women’s Nanquan final, while Sachin and Hemash Singh finished fourth in their respective pools in men’s individual foil.
In swimming, Aryan Nehra finished fourth in the men’s 1500m freestyle final B, while the 4x100m medley relay team of Rishabh Das, Akash Mani, Benediction Beniston and Dhanush Suresh finished seventh overall in the heats to qualify for the final.
Chetan Bhatt lost the men’s 84kg kumite bronze medal match, and Alisha Choudhary went down 1-6 to Indonesia’s Cok Istri Agung Sanistyarani in the women’s -55kg Round of 16. India also lost 0-3 to Malaysia in men’s Team Regu in sepaktakraw. In equestrian dressage, Ashish Limaye finished 13th, Arjan Nagra 23rd and Fouaad Mirza 26th. (ANI)
Asian Games 2026: India beat Thailand 3-2 to enter women’s TT quarterfinals
