World Team Table Tennis Championships: Ayhika Mukherjee, Sreeja Akula stun World No.1 & 2 Chinese in 3-2 defeat

The Indian women's table tennis team suffered a 2-3 loss against China on Friday, February 16, at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Centre (BESCO) in South Korea.

The Indian team rode on the exuberance and sharpness of Ayhika Mukherjee in the first set, giving World No.1 Sun Yingsha a good run for her money. Ayhika's anti-spin rubber was a surprise package for the Chinese to handle, which forced her for numerous errors at the net.

Even though Yingsha leveled the game at 1-1 after tottering Ayhika's every move to defeat her at 11-2 in the second game, the Indian was unabated by it. She played some ferocious strokes to beat the World No.1, at least four times in the last game.

Ayhika's early advantage wasn't capitalized by top-ranked player Manika Batra after she went down to Wang Manyu 11-3, 11-8, 13-15, 11-7 in the second match. Even though she won the third game, Manika squandered two game points before picking up a deuce and advantage. In a nutshell, Manika continued her rusty form in team events after the Asian Games disappointment.

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Sreeja Akula regains lead but the Chinese have the last laugh

Sreeja Akula was spot on with her defensive game against World No.2 Wang Yidi. The Commonwealth Games medallist nonchalantly returned the ball every time the Chinese attempted a smash toward her right.

Sreeja blanked Yidi 3-0 despite some late resistance from the Chinese in the third game, forcing to a deuce and advantage. It must be noted that Sreeja lost her track and failed to carry the momentum after an 8-4 lead going into the timeout. Nonetheless, she pulled those decisive points back before Yidi could make a case for a fightback.

Manika and Ayhika failed to muster a single win in the last two matches against Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu, respectively. Thus, India missed a fair opportunity to pocket the two points as a whole. The team was awarded a point and stands in third place in Group 1.