Asian Table Tennis C’ships: Sutirtha slays higher-ranked opponent from Chinese Taipei

India’s Sutirtha Mukherjee beat higher-ranked Szu-Yu Chen to enter the women’s singles round of 32 at the Asian Table Tennis Championships here on Thursday.

The world number 104 bounced back after losing the opening game against 40th-ranked Chen from Chinese Taipei to win 10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 in a round-of-64 match.

However, India’s top-ranked player Manika Batra gave a walkover to Thailand’s Jinnipa Sawettabut in another round-of-64 contest.

Ayhika Mukherjee defeated Nepal’s Suwal Sikka 11-2, 11-0, 11-1 to advance in the competition.

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Another Indian in the fray, Sreeja Akula, could not put up much of a fight against world number 8 Mima Ito of Japan, losing 5-11, 6-11, 9-11.

China’s world number 2 Chen Meng was too good for Diya Chitale, winning 11-3, 11-6, 11-8 to reach the round of 32.

Two doubles pairs enter quarterfinals

Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah blanked the Uzbekistan combination of Abdulaziz Anorboev and Kutbidillo Teshaboev to enter the men’s doubles quarterfinals.

In the women’s doubles, the duo of Ayhika and Sutirtha got past Kazakhstan’s Angelina Romanovskaya and Sarvinoz Mirkadirova 11-1, 13-11, 10-12, 11-7 to reach the last-eight stage.

In the team events, Indian men ended with a bronze medal.