Aichi-Nagoya, 25 September (H.S.): Indian table tennis players Yashaswini Ghorpade and Manush Shah advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s and men’s singles events respectively at the 2026 Asian Games on Friday. Yashaswini defeated Syria’s Hend Zaza 4-1, while Manush Shah beat Iran’s Benyamin Faraji 4-0. The players’ names have been rendered according to standard international spellings used in official and major sporting records.

In the second round of the women’s singles, Yashaswini defeated Zaza 11-5, 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-4. In the men’s singles, Manush defeated Iran’s Benyamin Faraji in four straight games, winning 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 and 11-5.

However, India’s Sreeja Akula suffered a 1-4 defeat against North Korea’s Pyon Song Gyong in the second round. Pyon won the contest 11-7, 11-8, 11-13, 11-7 and 11-7.

In the men’s singles, Manav Thakkar was also eliminated after losing 2-3 to North Korea’s Yu Tae Ryong. Yu won the contest 11-4, 2-11, 7-11, 7-11, 11-4, 11-3.

India Secure Mixed Doubles Medal

Earlier, Manush Shah and Diya Chitale secured a medal for India with an impressive performance in the mixed doubles. The eighth-ranked Indian pair defeated Hong Kong, China’s world No. 4 combination of Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem 3-1 (11-6, 13-15, 11-9, 11-5) in the quarter-finals to advance to the semi-finals.

With the victory, India secured at least a bronze medal in mixed doubles table tennis at the Asian Games. It will be India’s second mixed doubles medal at the Asian Games. At the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra had won the bronze medal.

However, the mixed doubles campaign of Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade ended in the quarter-finals. The Indian pair were defeated 11-5, 12-10, 11-9 by China’s Lin Shidong and Kuai Man.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar