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.
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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.
