21-year-old Yashaswini Ghorpade fires India into Asian Games table tennis quarter-finals

India's women's table tennis team edged 2022 bronze medallists Thailand 3-2 in a pre-quarterfinal tie at the Asian Games on Tuesday, with 21-year-old Yashaswini Ghorpade winning both her matches to secure the victory.

The win kept India's hopes of adding to their modest table tennis medal tally alive; India have won only three table tennis medals in Asian Games history, with the men's team's bronze in 2018 their only team-event medal. India entered the knockout rounds unbeaten, having won all three of their group matches, including a victory over Singapore.

Sreeja Akula opened the tie against Orawan Paranang, taking the first two games 11-7, 11-1 before Paranang recovered to win the next three 9-11, 6-11, 10-12 and hand Thailand an early lead in the tie.

Ghorpade levelled the tie by beating Suthasini Sawettabut 3-2; she recovered from a 1-2 deficit to win the fourth and fifth games 11-9, 11-9.

Thailand moved ahead again when Diya Chitale lost a five-game match to Jinnipa Sawettabut; Chitale won the second and third games to lead 2-1, but Jinnipa won the last two 11-7, 11-13 to put Thailand within one victory of the quarter-finals.

Ghorpade then produced a straight-games win over Paranang, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9, to make the tie 2-2. Sreeja Akula completed the comeback by overcoming Suthasini, recovering from losing the opening game to win 9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8 and seal the 3-2 victory for India.

Former Olympian Neha Aggarwal Sharma praised Ghorpade after the tie, saying: "Yashaswini Ghorpade is coming out to be the one handling the pressure so well and winning most of the matches for India here at Asian Games. She wins both her matches today vs Thailand in R16," she said.

India's men were eliminated in the pre-quarter-finals, losing 0-3 to Korea; Harmeet Desai went down 1-3 to Jang Woojin, Manush Shah lost 2-3 to Oh Junsung and Manav Thakkar was beaten 1-3 by An Jaehyun. India had opted not to field experienced campaigner G Sathiyan in that tie, a decision that will inevitably invite scrutiny after the one-sided defeat.

India will face North Korea in the quarter-finals, with victory in that tie guaranteeing the women's team an Asian Games medal.