India's men's table tennis team outclassed by Chinese Taipei in semi-finals of the Asian TT Championships | Sports-others News

Despite the loss, confirming their third consecutive medal at the Asian Championships and bronze at the 2021 and 2023 editions is a big deal, but the Indian team, led by veteran Sharath Kamal, will have to think deeply about how to take their game to a can reach a higher level. level where they can compete with the best in Asia. Mind you, the Taipei side is easily one of the top 4 in Asia, behind China, Japan and Korea.

While the technique of putting the ball back on the table regardless of the return is a common thread, the Indian women have managed to beat top players, using their pimple rubbers to outwit their opponents, while also working tirelessly on their fitness and forehand attacks. The men's game, on the other hand, is based on pure strength and speed, with agility being the key.

Former India player Aman Balgu, who is currently coaching Manika Batra, said the top international players are extremely fit and that is one of the key differences.

When you see the top players, they bend a lot more and stay lower on the table. This is not always the case with our players. To be able to do that consistently requires tremendous fitness and I think this is certainly an area where we can achieve better results against top players if we improve.

Against the Taipei team, there was a class divide in all three departments.

The 42-year-old Sharath opened the match against the very agile Yun-Ju. In terms of technique, Sharath's wealth of experience is unmatched. He has been the Indian men's table tennis flag bearer for almost two decades and there is little he doesn't know about the sport. Yet Yun-Ju, who won the WTT champion in Frankfurt last year, was able to masterfully dominate him by moving him back and forth. Sharath just couldn't match the pace and Yun-Ju's down-the-line backhands were too much for him.

Paris: India's Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar and Sharath Kamal react during the men's team round of 16 match between China and India of the table tennis competitions at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the South Paris Arena in Paris, France, August 6, 2024 (EPA -EFE/RITCHIE B. TONGO VIA PTI)

After losing the opening game 11-7, Sharath tried to force himself into the match by holding onto a lead in a second game, reaching the tie-breakers, but he just couldn't get over the line. He also had a two-point lead in the third game, but was wasteful with his serves, giving Yun-Ju the opportunity to attack and win the match.

The only bright spark in the entire tie came from world number 60 Manav Thakkar, who won a match against world number 22 Kao Cheng-Jui. Although he lost the match 3-1 (11-9, 8-11, 11-3, 13-11), apart from the third game, he was always in the match and even took the fourth game to the tie- breakers where he was. Too bad he had to give up a net point.

In what turned out to be the final match of the tie, Harmeet Desai was blown away by world number 70 Huang Yan-Cheng 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-7). Although Harmeet was not in the best of form, he was expected to give Yan-Cheng a good fight, but the Taipei player had an answer to all his attacks. Harmeet simply wasn't quick enough to respond to Yan-Cheng's return who fell on his backhand and was punished repeatedly.

Astana coach Massimo Costantini told The Indian Express that while he was pleased with the performance as a whole, he wants individual players to go one step further and achieve those big wins.

Technically and tactically we have done nothing wrong. We lost to a better team with better players. I'm happy with what we achieved at this tournament, although we all know we have to improve. The way we can improve is by getting wins against top players.

Manav was playing against a top 20 player, but his opponent was actually a bit scared to play against him. That's a good sign, but only if we get one big win will we continue to get big wins. This is due to playing together at more international tournaments, according to the Italian.

Manav told The Indian Express that by traveling and training as a unit, they are slowly improving.

Every day we have team meetings where we go through everything. Previously this only happened sporadically. It's nice to get different perspectives because everyone here wants the other to improve and no one is pointing the finger at the other. It's great because we know there's always a team supporting us no matter what.