Asian Games 2018: Indian table tennis team on a roll in Indonesia

Indias paddler Manika Batra (left) returns as teammate Achanta Sharath Kamal admires her grit during the table tennis mixed doubles semi-final against Chinas Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin in Jakarta yesterday. The Indians lost 9-11, 5-11, 13-11, 4-11, 8-11.

The Indian table tennis contingent here is on a roll. A day after clinching a historic first Asian Games table tennis medal men-s team bronze, India-s mixed doubles team of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra won bronze yesterday. The Indian pair beat North Korea-s An Ji Song and Cha Hyo Sim 4-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8 to enter the semi-finals where they lost 9-11, 5-11, 13-11, 4-11, 8-11 to China-s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha for bronze.

Veteran Kamal was over the moon after the win. "This is big, even bigger than the gold we won at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. This is huge. I mean... one medal was big enough and now we have two. Dhoom mach jayegi India mein [there will be celebrations in India]," said an elated Kamal.

The win augurs well for the country keeping in mind that the mixed doubles event has been introduced at the 2020 Olympics, where there will be five table tennis medals up for grabs - men-s singles, women-s singles, men-s team, women-s team and mixed doubles. Kamal is already looking forward to doing well there. "I don-t quite enjoy playing mixed doubles, so Mouma Das and I played the mixed doubles event at the CWG keeping this Asian Games in mind.

"Manika and I should have played there too, but at the last minute, there was a date issue and the change could not be made. So now, we have played this one here keeping the Tokyo Olympics in mind," said Kamal, 36, who hailed his partner Manika, 23, as being the boss on the table for her immaculate stopping of the ball, which would set him up for the big shots. "In mixed doubles, the girl sets up the game. That-s what Manika did brilliantly today. The woman is the boss, we [men] only support, like in life, as most married men would agree," he said with a laugh.

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