Asian Games: Indians go through to the second round in table tennis events

Incheon, Sep 29 (IANS)

The Indian women's doubles teams led the charge in table tennis Monday, advancing to the second round after winning their matches in the 17th Asian Games at the Suwon Gymnasium on Monday.

First up, the Indian pair of Ankita Das and Poulomi Ghatak outplayed Pakistani duo Rahila Kashif and Shabnam Bilal 3-0 (11-5, 11-1, 11-7) in just 11 minutes. In their next match Wednesday, Ankita-Poulomi will face South Korean pair of Youngsook Park and Haeun Yang, who registered a facile 3-0 (11-2, 11-4, 11-1) win over Macau's Fei Sut Tam and Mei Sio.

The other Indian women's team in the fray, Madhurika Patkar and Neha Aggarwal, took 12 minutes to thump the Maldives' Aishath Nisa and Shiura Aminath Shareef 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-2). Madhurika and Neha will play their pre-quarter-final match Wednesday against Chinese team of Zhu Yuling and Chen Meng.

In singles, Ankita Das registered a comprehensive 4-0 win over her Kuwaitian opponent Alshammari Menwah 11-4, 11-9, 11-3, 11-9 in just 16 minutes to move to the second round. Ankita was in top form and didn't give her opponent any time to settle down, taking the first game 11-4 in just three minutes. And the proceedings stayed like that through out the match. She will next face Hong Kong's NG Wing Nam Thursday.

In the mixed doubles events, India experienced mixed luck with the Anthony Amalraj-Madhurika Patkar pair reaching pre-quarterfinals but the team of Achanta Sharath Kamaland Poulomi Ghatak was knocked out, losing 0-3 (6-11, 9-11, 14-16) to Thai pair Padasak Tanviriyavechakul and Suthasini Sawettabut in mere 22 minutes.

Amalraj-Madhurika, who got a bye in the first round, defeated Mongolian pair of Orgil Munkh Batbayar and Enkhjin Barkhas 3-0 (12-10, 11-3, 11-6) in just 13 minutes. The Indian pair will take on Japan's Seiya Kishikawa and Ai Fukuhara in the next round Tuesday.