Harpal Singh Bedi / Jakarta
Seasoned campaigner Sharath Kamal and new poster girl Manika Batra, combined well to overcome North Korea’s pair of Ji Song An and Hyo Sim Cha 3-2 (4-11, 12-10, 6-11. 11-6, 11-8) and enter the semifinals of the mixed doubles event of the Table Tennis competition in the Asian Games here on Wednesday.
With this the Indian the paddlers ensured for the second time that they will return home with two bronze medals, at least.
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The two North Korean southpaws took .5-0 lead . For most part of the game, the experienced An was in complete control sending down winners after winners with his powerful forehands. Cha, too, complimented him and exploiting the angles to perfection she joined the party before the Koreans gave away four points to the Indian duo, all coming of their opponents’ serve.
The Indian struggled cotniued in the second game but Sharath, taking control of the proceedings, scored two consecutive winners that made the pair breath easy at 10-10. An served short, expecting Manika to return high but the confident CWG singles gold winner pushed back to the forehand of Cha, who failed to read the slowness of the ball and returned to the net. When serviced returned to Sharath, he simply finished it off to bright the score level, the game taking eight minutes.
As expected, the Korean pair came strongly in the thrid and hardly made any mistake. On the other hand, both Sharath and Manika were unable to keep the ball on the table and paid the price with North Korea going 2-1 up.
However after the break the Indians took the 5-0 lead before the Koreans got their first point. The two Indians were sitting comfortably at 8-2 but two negatives restored the Korean confidence as they closed the gap to be 8-6. But that was all they could do as the Indians soon after the time-out steadied themselves to take three straight points to level thes core once again.
The Indians began the decider as they led 5-3. But the Koreans fighting well made it 6-6 and then they were not in the game as Manika and Sharath mix-matched well, changing flanks to decieve the Korean duo. So much so, the Indians were four points ahead at one point but their opponened managed to take two more points before the Indians sewed up well to ensure the bronze medal.
“It was a hard-fought win. At 1-2 we thought it was going to be difficult but never gave up. We came back nicely to win the fourth game convincingly. But at 6-6 it could have been anybody’s match and we were luck to grab on the chances,”said Sharath.
“Sharath bhaia was always encouraging and said we can do it. I am happy I could live up to everybody’s expectations,”said Manika on their achievements.
The pair had earlier beaten the South Korean combination of Lee Sansu and Jeon Jihee 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-4 after a 43-minute battle of pre-quarterfinals in the morning.
In the semifinals, they will be meeting top-seeded Chinese pair of Chuqin Wang and Yingsha Sun. The two teenagers have better records with Yingsha having been real sensations for China and were selected for the Games ahead of well-known names.
Earlier, the pair of Anthony Amalraj and Madhurika Patkar lost to the Hong Kong pair of Ho Kwan Kit and Lee Ho Ching 1-3 in the pre-quarterfinals.