The Indian table tennis players had a bitter-sweet day in the Asian Games on Monday as the mixed doubles team of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Poulomi Ghatak crashed out while the women’s doubles team got the better of arch-rivals Pakistan in a round-of-32 match, in Incheon.
Star paddler Sharath Kamal and Poulomi lost to the Thai duo of Padasak Tanviriyavechakul and Suthasiniin Sawettabut 6-11 9-11 14-16 in a round-of-32 match at the Suwon Gymnasium.
West Bengal ace Poulomi then combined with Ankita Das to thrash the Pakistani pair of Shabnam Bilal and Rahila Kashif 11-5 11-1 11-7 in just 12 minutes.
The India duo of Amalraj Anthony Arputharaj and Madhurika Suhas Patkar got past the Mongolian pair of Munkh Orgil Batbayar and Enkhjin Barkhas 12-10 11-3 11-6 to enter the mixed doubles pre-quarterfinals.
In the women’s singles, Ankita humbled Menwah Alshammari of Kuwait 11-4 11-9 11-3 11-9 in a best-of-seven clash to move into the round-of-32.
In the final outing of the day for Indian paddlers, Neha Aggarwal, the only female table tennis player to represent the nation in Olympics -- 2008 Beijing Games, combined with Madhurika to make it to the last-16.
The Neha-Madhurika duo eased past Aishath Nisa and Aminath Shiura Shareef of Maldives 11-3 11-6 11-2 in the round-of-32 clash.
