Indian women script comeback win over Singapore, men lose to Iran at Asian Games

The Indian women's team fought back from 1-2 down to beat Singapore 3-2 in a Group F match, while the men's side suffered a 0-3 defeat against Iran in the table tennis event at the Asian Games here on Sunday.

India were staring at defeat after Singapore took a 2-1 lead, but Sreeja Akula and Yashaswini Ghorpade won the fourth and fifth matches respectively to seal the tie.

Ghorpade got India off to a winning start with an 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9 victory over Jian Zeng.

Sreeja then suffered an 8-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-4, 6-11 loss to Loy Ming before Diya Chitale went down 7-11, 4-11, 11-7, 5-11 to Tan Zhao, leaving India trailing 1-2.

Sreeja returned for the fourth match against Zeng Jian and overcame her earlier defeat to win 6-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-4 and level the tie.

Ghorpade then held her nerve in the decider to defeat Loy Ming 5-11, 11-8, 12-10, 4-11, 11-9 and complete India's comeback.

The men's team, meanwhile, endured a difficult outing against Iran, with only Harmeet Desai managing to put up a strong challenge.

Manush Shah lost 3-11, 8-11, 10-12 to Noshad Alamiyan in the opening match, while Manav Thakkar was beaten 2-11, 6-11, 6-11 by Benyamin Faraji as Iran moved 2-0 ahead.

Harmeet then pushed Alamiyan before losing 10-12, 15-13, 3-11, 12-10, 2-11 to concede the tie 0-3.

Both Indian teams will next face Pakistan on Monday.

Earlier, both teams had begun their campaigns with identical 3-0 victories over Indonesia in their respective Group F openers.

The women's team registered a comfortable sweep, with Sreeja defeating Ni Maharani 3-1, Diya Chitale beating Almaira Nebuchadnezzar 3-0 and Ghorpade overcoming Citra Rasmi 3-0.

Sreeja recovered from losing the second game 8-11 to beat Maharani 11-3, 11-4, 11-4. Diya won 11-9, 11-8, 11-5, while Ghorpade prevailed 12-10, 11-4, 11-4.

The men's team also won 3-0, although Thakkar was pushed to five games by Muhammad Junindra.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran opened with an 11-8, 11-7, 11-9 win over Muhammad Negara before Thakkar beat Junindra 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-9.

Manush Shah completed the sweep with an 11-9, 11-9, 12-10 victory over Affan Pratama.

India's women are grouped with Indonesia, Pakistan and Singapore, while the men's team is drawn alongside Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia.