The Indian women’s table tennis team of Diya Parag Chitale, Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee kicked off the day on a positive note as India registered a comfortable 3-0 victory over Nepal on Saturday in the Asian Games.
Diya kicked off the proceedings for the Indian team against Nepal’s Sikka Shrestha. The Indian paddler didn’t waste a single moment to establish her dominance in the game.
Within a blink of an eye, she took away the first game by 11-1. She continued to ride on her confidence and took a comfortable five-point lead with the scores reading 7-2.
Shrestha tried to stitch up a comeback but it wasn’t enough as Diya took away the second game by 11-6.
In the third game, Shrestha failed to put pressure on the Indian paddler as Diya sealed the third game by 11-8 and wrapped the first game quickly to hand India an early lead.
The second game began with Ayhika taking on Nabita Shrestha, she started the game with a 2-1 lead and then converted it into a 5-3 scoreline.
She went on to extend her lead to six points and take away the first game with the scoreline reading 9-3. Ayhika stole away the first game in six minutes by 11-3.
Nabita put up a challenge to Ayhika in the second game as they battled hard for each point. But the Indian paddler rose to the challenge and took away the second game with 11-7 and took a 2-0 lead in the second match.
Nabita lacked intensity in the third game which allowed Ayhika to walk away with a 11-2 win and give India a 2-0 lead over Nepal in the match.
Sutirtha stepped to face Evana Thapa Magar in the third match with the aim of wrapping up the game quickly for India.
Sutirtha didn’t allow Evana to breathe for a single moment as she made the scoreline read 8-0 in her favour within a flash.
Evana managed to take a single point in the first game as the Indian took a comfortable 11-1 victory in the first game.
A similar story unfolded in the second and third games as Sutirtha won the second game by 11-5 and 11-2 respectively.
With this victory, India sealed their place in the next round with a 3-0 win over Nepal.