Busan [South Korea], February 19 : The Indian men's table tennis team registered their second loss in the ongoing World Table Tennis Championships, losing to South Korea by 0-3 on Monday.
During the men's tie, India's highest-ranked men's singles player Harmeet Desai lost to Korea's Woojin Jang in the opening match of the tie. The world number 14 Jang dominated Harmeet across three games, beating him 3-0 (11-4, 12-10, 11-8).
Up next was Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, who could not offer much fight against the world number 18 Jonghoon Lim during the second match. Lim beat Sathiyan 3-0 (11-5, 11-7, 11-7). India trailed by 2-0.
In the third match, world number 95 and multi-time Commonwealth Games champion Achanta Sharath Kamal managed to drag the match to four games against the world number 27 Sang Su Lee but still came out on the losing side by 3-1 (11-9, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5).
Indian men's side is at number three in group three, with a win and two losses. They have just four points so far. India will next play New Zealand on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Indian women's team led by Manika Batra produced a strong performance to blank Uzbekistan 3-0, registering their second straight victory in Group 1 of the 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan on Monday.
Following a 3-2 victory over Hungary on Sunday, the Indian women's team chose to rest Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula while adding Archana Kamath and Diya Chitale to the lineup.
Kamath began proceedings by easily defeating Uzbekistan's Rimma Gufranova 11-7, 11-3, 11-6.
Batra followed, defeating Markhabo Magdieva 11-7, 11-4, 11-1 to increase India's advantage.
Chitale was put under pressure by Rozalina Khadjieva in the third set of the tie, but she managed to win 11-6, 10-12, 11-4, 11-6, giving India its second consecutive victory after losing to China.
In Group one, India women's team stands at number two with two wins and a loss. They have a total of five points. India will next play on Spain in the women's competition.
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