The 23-year-old Manika, who won singles gold at this year's Commonwealth Games in Australia, has now become the first Indian female paddler to win an Asian Games medal
Jakarta: India's Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra claimed a historic bronze in table tennis mixed doubles at the Asian Games here on Wednesday.
The Indian pair lost its semi-final match to China's Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha 1-4 (9-11, 5-11, 13-11, 4-11, 8-11) but finished on the podium to bag the country's first-ever mixed team bronze medal, at JIExpo Hall.
This is the nation's second medal in table tennis at the current edition of Asiad.
The 23-year-old Manika, who won singles gold at this year's Commonwealth Games in Australia, has now become the first Indian female paddler to win an Asian Games medal.
The teenage Chinese pair won the opening two games convincingly. In the third, Sharath and Manika bounced back to win a hard-fought battle 13-11. However, the Chinese duo sealed the match in the fourth and fifth games with easy wins.
Earlier, Sharath and Manika had defeated the North Korean pair of Ji Song An and Hyo Sim Cha 3-2 (4-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8) in a thrilling quarter-final match.
"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," Sharath said after the quarter-finals.
"Sharath bhaiyya was always encouraging and said we can do it. I am happy I could live up to everybody's expectations,"said Manika.
The Indian duo had came back twice from a game down to clinch the contest in 38 minutes.
On Tuesday, Indian men's team had bagged a bronze medal. Sharath, G Sathiyan and A Amalraj lost to Korea in the semi-finals but made a historic finish. This was India's first-ever Asian Games medal in table tennis.
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