India’s campaign at the 2023 Asian Table Tennis Championships ended, on Friday, at Pyeongchang, South Korea as Manav Thakkar went down 0-3 against Chinese legend Ma Long in the men’s singles pre-quarters match.
The 23-year-old Thakkar led 9-5 in the first game and then 8-4 in the second but faltered under pressure to crash out with a 9-11, 10-12, 5-11 loss.
Earlier in the day, Thakkar, ranked 100th, had defeated world No 33 Kao Cheng-Jui of South Korea 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7 in the Round of 32.
On the other hand, the more experienced duo of Sharath Kamal Achanta and G Sathiyan crashed out in the Round of 32
Meanwhile, world No 170 in women’s singles Ayhika Mukherjee stretched China’s Chen Xingtong to five games before losing out.
Ayhika won the first two games 11-2, 11-6 respectively, eventually lost to the world No 4 11-2, 11-6, 8-11, 9-11, 3-11.
Later in the day the 26-year-old player along with partner Sutirtha Mukherjee also lost 0-3 to to the Chinese pairing of Wang Manyu and Chen Meng in the women’s doubles quarter-finals.
The men’s doubles pair of Thakkar and Manush Shah also went down in straight games to the Chinese duo of Fan Zhendong and Lin Gaoyuan in the quarter-finals.
The Indian paddlers return from the continental event with a solitary bronze medal secured in the men’s team event.