Asian TT C’ships: Manush Shah/Manav Thakkar lose in quarters as China secures women’s singles title

PyeongChang (South Korea):  India’s Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar lost in the men’s doubles quarterfinals as China dominated the 2023 Asian Table Tennis Championships on Friday. In the women’s doubles quarterfinals, the Indian pair of Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee of India lost to Chinese players, Wang Manyu and Chen Meng with set scores of 11-5, 13-11, 12-10.

The young Indian pair of Manav and Manush went down to Fan Zhendong and Lin Gaoyuan of China in their quarterfinal match, going down 3-0 in straight games.

The Indian pair, who had reached the last-eight stage by beating the Uzbek combine of Abdulaziz Anorbov and Kutbidillo Teshaboev, went down 5-11, 3-11, 5-11 in the quarterfinal clash in Pyeongchang Dome.

In the other men’s doubles quarterfinal, the duo of Ma Long and Wang Chuqin overcame Wong Chun Ting and Ho Kwan Kit of Hong Kong, China with set scores of 8-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-3.

Saturday’s semifinals will feature two Chinese pairs against two teams from the host nation. Ma and Wang will compete against Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon, while Fan and Lin will face off against An Jae-hyun and Park Gang-hyeon.

In other women’s doubles quarterfinal,Sun Yingsha and Wang Yidi triumphed over Miu Hirano and Miwa Harimoto of Japan, scoring 11-5, 12-10, 11-5.

China dominated the women’s singles section with Sun Yingsha, Chen Xingtong, Wang Yidi, and Wang Manyu all advancing to the semifinals, reports Xinhua.

Wang Manyu narrowly defeated her teammate Chen Meng with scores of 9-11, 11-6, 14-12, 9-11, 11-9. The other three Chinese competitors also bested their opponents, setting the stage for all-Chinese semifinal matches on Saturday.

On the men’s side, Fan Zhendong, Liang Jingkun, and Ma Long of China secured their spots in the singles semifinals.

–IANS