JAKARTA: The Indian men’s team did almost the unthinkable by beating fancied Japan 3-1 in the quarterfinals to assure the country its first-ever medal in table tennis in the history of the Asian Games hereon Monday.
For the Indians, it did not matter if Japan’s top three players were missing from the competition. “At the end of the day, it is an Asian Games medal. I never dreamt of it,” veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal, who has been India’s top table tennis player for close to 15 years, told PTI. Until tonight, India did not have a single medal in the sport which was introduced in the Games program in 1958. The likes of China (61 gold), Japan (20) and South Korea (10) swept the medals for long time. Word number 33, Sharath, blanked world number 19 Kenta Matsudaira 11-8, 12-10, 11-8 in the only singles he needed to play tonight. Rising star G Sathiyan, ranked 39, delivered on the big stage, winning both his singles against 28th ranked Jin Ueda and Matsudaira. Sathiyan hammered Ueda in straight games and took four games to get the better of Matsudaira. “We had come close to beating Japan in the Asian Championships last year. So it is not as if it was completely unexpected. We were on the right track. We have a solid team now,” said multiple time CWG gold medallist Sharath. Winning the quarterfinals against a strong opponent like Japan was a mighty feat. (PTI)
