Sutirtha-Aihika create history, reach women's double semis
Hangzhou (PTI): Sutirtha Mukherjee and Aihika Mukherjee shocked world champion Chinese pair Chen Meng and Yidi Wang to enter the women's doubles semifinals, assuring India a historic table tennis medal at the Asian Games here on Saturday.
In the quarterfinals, Sutirtha and Aihika won 11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9 and the victory over World No. 2 Chinese duo is all the more significant because India have never won a medal in the women's doubles event in the Asian Games.
The Indian players never allowed their superior opponents to settle down right from the go.
The Chinese duo was expected to roll over their opponents, and it happened precisely the opposite, as the Indians won the first game in just 8 minutes.
The trend followed in the second game too, as the Indians wrapped it in just 9 minutes as the Chinese players committed several unforced errors, particularly on the forehand.
The home side players mounted a brief fightback, winning the third game.
But the Indians regrouped quickly to assert themselves in the fourth game.
The epic winning moment came when Meng sprayed her forehand into the net.
Earlier, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika Batra produced an error-filled game to make an early exit in the quarterfinals of the women's singles table tennis competition.
Manika went down against world No. 4 Yidi Wang of China 8-11, 12-10, 6-11, 4-11, 14-12, 5-11 and her defeat also marked the end of India's campaign in the singles event at the Hangzhou Games.
The ace Indian paddler lost the first game 8-11, as she showed a distinct weakness on her backhand.
Even when she won the second and fifth games, it was more about the Chinese player making unforced errors in her eagerness to close out the points.
The classic example came in the fifth game when the Chinese sprayed an easy forehand while leading 11-10, which allowed Manika to claw back.
But in the sixth game, Wang regained her focus and peppered Manika's backhand with powerful shots that the latter failed to reply properly.
Manika tried to fight back with a couple of powerful forehands but Wang's astonishing retrieving ability left the Indian frustrated.
Fittingly, a backhand error from Manika that brought the match to an end.
Wang's laser-guided forehand found Manika fumbling as her backhand return sailed well wide of the table.
Earlier, India's men's double pair of Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar also bowed out in the quarterfinals.
They were beaten by South Korean pair Woojin Jang and Jonghoon Lim 8-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-6, 9-11 in the last eight.
The Indians were leading 6-2 in the fifth game which later transpired to 9-9, but they squandered the chances to go down against the Koreans.
"We fought really well. We took the game to 9-9 in the last set. We were very close to winning but we have to take the learnings and move forward," said Manush after the defeat.
On the experience of playing against the World No. 1 Korean pair, Manush said: "They are probably the toughest opponents. We had some strategies and moves that we wanted to execute, and which we did. But in the end, we couldn't prevail."
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Delhi remains warm, temperature hits 30.5 degrees C
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi remained warmer than usual on Monday, with no rainfall reported across key weather stations, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
According to the IMD, Safdarjung, the city's base station, recorded a maximum temperature of 30.5 degrees Celsius, clocking five degrees above normal temperature, while the minimum settled at 11.8 degrees Celsius. The Ridge area was the warmest at 31 degrees Celsius, followed by Ayanagar at 30.4 degrees Celsius and Lodi Road at 30.1 degrees Celsius. Palam recorded a comparatively lower maximum of 28.6 degrees Celsius.
While the Safdarjung weather station recorded a minimum of 11.8 degrees Celsius, Palam recorded 13 degrees Celsius, and Lodhi Road recorded 12 degrees Celsius, according to IMD data.
The weather department has predicted mist on Tuesday with the maximum and minimum temperatures expected to reach around 30 and 13 degrees Celsius, respectively. The IMD said no rainfall was recorded in the region during the observation period, indicating continued dry weather conditions.
The air quality was recorded in the 'poor' category, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) reading of 221, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed.
According to the CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 to 100 'satisfactory', 101 to 200 'moderate', 201 to 300 'poor', 301 to 400 'very poor', and 401 to 500 'severe'.
