Astana (Kazakhstan), Oct 11 (IANS): Indian table tennis continued to surge ahead in 2024 as the men's team won the bronze medal at the Asian Table Tennis Championship 2024 being held in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday. The Indian team went down 3-0 to Chinese Taipei in a semifinal clash and had to be satisfied with a bronze medal. At the Asian Table Tennis Championships, both losing semi-finalists receive bronze medals.
Indian TT had a brilliant year in 2024 as both the men's and women's teams qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time and did reasonably well in Paris. On Thursday, the men's team added more lustre to the already shining year by winning the country's third straight medal in the men's team event at the continental championships. India had earlier won the bronze medals in the 2021 and 2023 editions.
Facing against a strong Chinese Taipei team, five-time Olympian and Commonwealth Games medallist Sharath Kamal had his moments against World No. 11 Lin Yun-Ju before going down 3-0. Sharath, ranked 42nd in the world, could not capitalise on his lead in the second and third games as he went down 7-11, 10-12, 9-11.
In the second match, World No.60 Manav Thakkar took a game off World No.22 Kao Cheng-Jui but eventually lost 1-3 (9-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-13) in a well-fought encounter.
In the third and final match on Thursday, Harmeet Desai lost to World No.70 Huang Yan-Cheng 0-3 (6-11, 9-11, 7-11) as Chinese Taipei romped to victory and a place in the final.
Earlier, India had advanced to the semis by defeating hosts Kazakhstan 3-1 in the quarterfinals, with Sharath, Manav, and Harmeet all contributing to the win.
The Indian women’s team had won a bronze medal earlier in the tournament. Thursday's medal took India's overall tally at the Asian Table Tennis Championships to seven medals, all bronze.
In the Asian Table Tennis Championships, which will conclude on October 13, medals are on offer in seven events - men’s team, women’s team, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles, men’s singles and women’s singles.