India women thrash Pakistan in Asian Games table tennis
A 3-0 sweep with no sets dropped sends the paddlers into the quarterfinals.
India's women's table tennis team beat Pakistan 3-0 at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Monday, their first India-Pakistan meeting of these Games.
Sutirtha Mukherjee opened with an 11-3, 11-3, 11-4 win over Aleena Khan. Seventeen-year-old Syndrela Das followed against Kalsoom Khan. Sreeja Akula then finished the tie with 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 over Fatima Khan. India did not drop a set. The last two rubbers were not needed.
The result made it three group wins from three. India had already beaten Indonesia 3-0 and come back from 1-2 down to beat Singapore 3-2 on Day 1. With the Pakistan sweep, the women moved into the quarterfinals.
The win sits inside a wider Indian start in Aichi-Nagoya. Shooting opened the medal account with two silvers through Elavenil Valarivan and the women's 10m air rifle team. Hockey, cricket, and MMA also delivered early headlines. Monday's card still had men's air rifle, kabaddi, and more hockey on the schedule.
An India-Pakistan result always travels, even in a sport that usually sits behind cricket in the domestic feed. A clean 3-0 with no sets lost is the kind of scoreline that needs little translation.
For the paddlers, the real test is still ahead in the knockouts. Group form against Pakistan and Indonesia does not decide a medal. It does buy belief after a Day 1 that already showed the women can dig out of trouble, as they did against Singapore.
India's women now wait on the quarterfinal draw. Parallel eyes stay on shooting finals and the rest of the Games programme as the medal table starts to move.