Paddlers settle for historic bronze

JAKARTA: The Indian table tennis men’s team settled for a historic bronze medal after going down 0-3 to South Korea in a lop-sided semifinal at the 18th Asian Games here on Tuesday.
The team comprising G Sathiyan, Achanta Sharath Kamal and A Amalraj couldn’t put up a fight against the mighty Koreans, who set up a summit clash against defending champions China in a repeat of 2014 edition. G Sathiyan, ranked 39, suffered a 11-9 9-11 3-11 3-11 loss to Lee Sangsu in the opening game as India lagged 0-1.
The experienced Sharath Kamal, word No 33, was then entrusted with the responsibility to bring India back in the game, but he went down 9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 8-11 after a valiant fight to Young Sik Jeoung in the second match, as South Korea led the tie 2-0.
In the deciding third game, Amalraj was beaten 5-11 7-11 11-4 7-11 by 22-year-old Woojin Jang as South Korea clinched the tie 3-0. Sharath opened up with a good lead only to surrender midway as he led 7-4 and then let Jeoung level at 9-9 before allowing two easy points on Korean’s service.
In the second, too, the Indian led briefly but the Korean went 8-4 up only to lose the advantage when Sharath made it 9-9. Yet again, Sharath failed to claim the two crucial points with serve on and ultimately surrendered after strong fight. (PTI)