Jakarta: Indian paddlers scripted history on Tuesday as they bagged a bronze medal at the ongoing Asian Games in Indonesia.
In the men’s table tennis team semi-finals at JIExpo Hall, India lost to South Korea 0-3 to take home a bronze.
This is for the first time that the nation has managed a table tennis medal at the Asian Games. Since the sport was introduced in 1958, China, Japan and South Korea have dominated. China has claimed a whopping 61 gold medals.
Veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal, A Amalraj and G Sathiyan featured in the last-four contest.
First, Sathiyan lost to Lee Sangsu 1-3 (11-9, 9-11, 3-11, 3-11) and then Kamal went down to Young Sik Jeoung 2-3 (9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 8-11) in a close contest.
The third game too went in favour of Korea as Amalraj was defeated by Woojin Jang 3-1 (11-5, 11-7, 4-11, 11-7).
On Monday, India had defeated Japan 3-1 in the quarter-finals to ensure that the team would finish on the podium.