Indian paddlers will return home empty handed from the 17th Asian Games as the country's campaign in the discipline came to an end at the Suwon Gymnasium here Thursday.
India's last medal hopes in table tennis - Soumyajit Ghosh, Manika Batra and Ankita Das - lost their matches and were knocked out of the singles competition.
Ghosh lost his men's singles pre-quarter-final 1-4 to North Korea's Sinhyok Pak in 33 minutes. The 21-year-old Indian took off well by winning the first game 11-2.
However, Pak turned the tables and went on to clinch the next four games 11-7, 11-8, 13-11, 11-8.
Earlier, Manika was blanked 0-4 (9-11, 6-11, 7-11, 8-11) in the women's pre-quarter-final by Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa while Ankita was shown the door 2-4 (8-11, 5-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-9, 4-11) in the second round by Hong Kong's N.G. Wing Nam.
Manika, World No.147, found the going tough right from the outset against the World No.8, a silver medallist in the team event of the 2012 London Olympics. Manika, who earlier in the day defeated Macau's Ma Chao 4-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-9, 11-6), produced her best but Kasumi was just too good for her.
In the other match, World No.209 Ankita didn't get time to settle down and lost the first two games 8-11, 5-11 against the World No.32 Wing Nam. Ankita, the reigning national champion, fought back to take the third game 11-4 in just four minutes.
However, the 22-year-old Wing Nam responded with another strong show in the fourth game and won 11-7. With loss looming large, the 21-year-old Ankita managed to make it 2-3 by winning the fifth game 11-9 but again found the going tough as Wing Nam wrapped up the sixth game 11-4 to walk away with a place in the pre-quarterfinal.
