Paris Olympics: Indian men’s table tennis team loses to China in round of 16

Paris [France], August 6 (ANI): The Indian men’s table tennis team’s campaign at the Paris Olympics came to an end on Tuesday as the trio of Achanta Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar lost to China 3-0 in their round of 16 match on Tuesday.

In the first match of the tie, Desai and Thakkar lost 0-3 (2-11, 3-11, 7-11) against Ma Long and Wang Chuqin, as per Olympics.com.

Sharath Kamal also fumbled his early lead against Paris Olympics 2024 singles gold medalist Fan Zhendong as the Chinese paddler bounced back to secure the second match by 3-1 (9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-5).

In the third match of the tie, Manav just could not match Wang Chuqin, who won by 3-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-9).

The defeat has ended the Indian men’s campaign in table tennis at the Paris Olympics.

Team India defeated Romania to reach the quarterfinal of the women’s table tennis team competition for the first time at the ongoing Paris Olympics on Monday.

India defeated Romania by 3-2 in a thriller.

Playing at the South Paris Arena, India first gained a 2-0 advantage as Sreeja Akula-Archana Kamath and Manika Batra secured the first two matches of the tie by 3-0 each.

But later on, Romania put on a brilliant fightback in the singles matches of the tie, defeating Sreeja Akula and Archana Kamath to make the scoreline read 2-2. Akula was beaten 3-2 in a hard-fought match while Archana lost her match by 3-1.

In the last match of the tie, Manika defeated Adina Diaconu by 3-0 to seal the tie for India.

It is the first time India participated in men’s and women’s table tennis team events at the Olympics. Both the men’s and women’s team events were introduced in the Olympic programme at Beijing 2008.