India eliminated from both men's and women's table tennis team events at Asian Games

India's men's and women's table tennis teams were eliminated from the team events at the Asian Games on Tuesday, ending their chances of winning medals in those draws. The women's side lost in the quarterfinals while the men's team were beaten by Korea in their tie.

The Indian women's team went down 0-3 to North Korea in the quarterfinals, with Sreeja Akula, Yashaswini Ghorpade and Diya Chitale all defeated in straight games. Sreeja, the first Indian in action, lost to Kum Yong Kim 7-11, 6-11, 5-11. Yashaswini then went down 4-11, 3-11, 6-11 to Song Gyong Pyon, and Diya lost 9-11, 7-11, 8-11 to Su Yong Cha to complete the 3-0 result for North Korea.

India had reached the quarterfinals earlier after edging Thailand 3-2. They had trailed 1-2 before Yashaswini produced two victories to turn the tie around, and Sreeja completed the comeback with a 3-1 win over Suthasini Sawettabut, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8.

The men's team campaign ended after a series of defeats to Korea, beginning with Harmeet Desai's match against Jang Woo-jin. Harmeet won the first game 11-8 but Jang took the next three 11-7, 11-8 and 11-9 to win the match 3-1.

Manush Shah then faced Oh Jungsung, losing the opening game 4-11 before taking the next two games and winning the fourth 13-11 to force a decider; Oh closed out the match 11-6 to prevail 3-2. That result left India requiring a win in the final singles to remain in contention.

Manav Thakkar was unable to produce the required win, losing to An Jaeh-yun 10-12, 6-11, 11-7, 12-10, with An prevailing in the fourth game to seal India's exit from the men's team event.

India have won three Asian Games table tennis medals, all bronze: the men's team claimed the country's first table tennis medal at Jakarta 2018; Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra won bronze in mixed doubles; and at Hangzhou 2023 Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee secured bronze in women's doubles, India's first Asian Games medal in that event. The result means India will have to wait for their first Asian Games medal in the women's team event.