Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee achieved another first for Indian table tennis by assuring themselves of the women's doubles medal at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Astana on Saturday.
The Mukherjees, who had beaten World champions Meng Chen and Yidi Wang of China enroute to a historic bronze at Asian Games last year, bounced back to beat South Korea's Kim Nayeong and Lee Eunhye 10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 in the quarter-finals.
The World number 15 pairing from India clash against Japan's Miwa Harimoto and Miyuu Kishara in the semis on Sunday, followed by the final on the same day.
Ayhika plays with an anti-spin rubber that helps
In the men's singles, Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah exceeded expectations to reach the pre-quarterfinals.
Manav, ranked 60th, recorded one of the biggest wins of his career by upsetting world number 14 Jang Woojin from South Korea 5-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7 in the round of 32.
World number 115 Manush made short work of 23-ranked An Jaehyun from South Korea 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 in a head turning performance. Both Manav and Manush play their pre-quarterfinal later on Saturday.
Harmeet Desai's singles campaign ended in the round of 32 with a straight game loss to 30th ranked Lim Jonghoon in the round of 32.
Veteran Sharath Kamal, India's highest ranked player at 42, had suffered a shock defeat against 506th ranked Mohammed Alqassab on Friday evening. G Sathiyan went down against North Korean Ham Yu Song, who doesn't feature in the ITTF rankings.
Manika Batra is scheduled to face Japan's Miwa Harimoto in a round of 16 clash on Saturday.
