Sutirtha-Ayhika create history, reach women’s TT double SF

Hangzhou, Sep 30: Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika 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 Ayhika 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 word 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.
The home side players mounted a brief fightback, winning the third game.
But the Indians regrouped quickly to assert themselves in the fourth game. (PTI)