ASIAN GAMES 2018, Table Tennis : History scripted by Indian men's team in Jakarta

28 Aug'18, With all the giants of table tennis world Indian Men's Team, caused a stir by making their mark at the Asian Games 2018, Jakarta. It is the first time ever in history that India won a medal in Table Tennis event in the Asian Games. The sport was introduced in the Games program in 1958 and since then it was just a far-sighted dream for India to win a medal. The current squad proves out to be the dream team for Indian Table Tennis creating history one after another putting their best foot forward be it Asian Games, Cwgs or World Championships.

In the Semi-Finals India lost to the Republic of Korea in a clean sweep 3-0. In the first match, G Sathiyan, ranked 39, suffered a 11-9 9-11 3-11 3-11 loss to Lee Sangsu. Sharath Kamal, word No 33, suffered 9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 8-11 loss to Young Sik Jeoung in the second match. In the deciding third game, Amalraj was beaten 5-11 7-11 11-4 7-11 by Woojin Jang.

Regardless of the loss in the semifinals, medal in Asian Games is one of the highest ranked achievement of Indian Table Tennis. Here is what the paddlers posted over social media.

Achanta Sharath Kamal

"The bestest piece of metal on my trophy shelf , until now was the Gold at Commonwealth Games in 2006. #bronzemedal at the #asiangames2018 in the men's team event. History in the making and jubilant for now. Greedy for some more medals here in singles and mixed doubles partnering @manikabatra.15 Thank you @tabletennisind @ra_rathore @narendramodi @sripoorni @qlpsports There are a lot more people behind this success who helped me reach this new height in my career."

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

"The wait was definitely worth it as it took 60 years to break the jinx!! .Truly emotional moment and no words to describe when you see the Tricolor going up!! Extremely proud moment for the entire Indian Table tennis fraternity as we won Bronze medal in Asian Games for the first ever time!! More bigger things to come #tabletennis #TeamIndia #Historymade #asiangames2018 A special thanks to Govt of India, Sports Ministry, SAI, TTFI, Sh.MP Singh sir, Sh.Dhanraj sir & all TTFI officials, ONGC, SDAT, Coach Massimo, GoSports Foundation , my personal coach and mentor Raman sir, my mom & family , my fitness expert Ramji sir and his entire team from @qlpsports , my mental conditioning coach, all my friends and family for the tremendous support and encouragement!! Table Tennis Federation of India Raman TT High Performance Center "

Harmeet Desai

A positive attitude can really make dreams come true - it did for us😍😍....Thanks to everyone for all their support and love throughout the games and also special thanks to TTFI, Massimo Costantini, SAI, SAG, TIBHAR, my family and all the well wishers. 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳#Bronzemedal #firsttimeever #historycreated#asiangames2018 #Jakarta #teamindia#tabletennis #🥉bronze #harmeetdesai

"very good win for us Sharath, Sathiyan and Harmeet all three played extremely well and Sathiyan was our hero."

-Manav Thakkar said after the Quarter Final win.