SOUTH KOREA: India’s Sutirtha Mukherjee beat higher-ranked Szu-Yu Chen to enter the women’s singles round of 32 at the Asian Table Tennis Championships on Thursday.
The world number 104 bounced back after losing the opening game against 40th-ranked Chen from Chinese Taipei to win 10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 in a round-of-64 match. However, India’s top-ranked player Manika Batra gave a walkover to Thailand’s Jinnipa Sawettabut in another round-of-64 contest.
Ayhika Mukherjee defeated Nepal’s Suwal Sikka 11-2, 11-0, 11-1 to advance in the competition. Another Indian in the fray, Sreeja Akula, could not put up much of a fight against world number 8 Mima Ito of Japan, losing 5-11, 6-11, 9-11. China’s world number 2 Chen Meng was too good for Diya Chitale, winning 11-3, 11-6, 11-8 to reach the round of 32.