All six Indian players knocked out in group stage

India’s campaign at the Asian Cup 2025 table tennis tournament in Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China, ended on Friday with all six players, including veteran Sharath Kamal, losing their final group matches.

World No. 43 Sharath Kamal lost to 31st-ranked Sora Matsushima of Japan 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-6) in his final group match in the men’s singles.

Sharath, a five-time Olympian and the reigning Commonwealth Games champion, was beaten by world No. 3 Liang Jingkun of China in his opener. However, a win against Yemen’s Ebrahim Gubran on Thursday had kept his quarter-final hopes alive.

In the Asian Cup, 32 table tennis players compete in each of the men’s and women’s categories. In Stage 1, the players are divided into eight groups of four each and play round-robin matches.

The top two players from each group advance to Stage 2, which features knockout matches.

Sharath and Sreeja Akula finished third in their respective groups while the remaining Indian table tennis players came fourth.

World No. 60 Manav Thakkar was blanked by China’s Chen Yuanyu 3-0 (12-10, 11-9, 13-11) in his final group fixture. Thakkar had beaten Singapore’s Izaac Quek 3-2 on Thursday after going down to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-ju in his opening match.

Harmeet Desai, who beat Kazakhstan’s Kirill Gerassimenko on Thursday, was the only Indian player to win a game on Friday but eventually lost the contest against Chinese Taipei’s Kao Cheng-Jui 3-1 (3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9).

In the women’s events, world No. 29 Sreeja Akula went down to 47th-ranked Chien Tung-Chuan of Chinese Taipei 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-7).

Akula, who won her opening game on Wednesday, was the only Indian table tennis player in women’s singles to register a win in the competition. The Paris 2024 Olympian put on a strong fight against China’s world No. 1 Sun Yingsha in the second match but suffered a 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-5) defeat.

Ayhika Mukherjee, meanwhile, ended her campaign with a 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-2) loss to Satsuki Odo of Japan while Yashaswini Ghorpade was beaten 3-0 (11-3, 11-8, 11-7) by Hina Hayata.

Manika Batra, who won a bronze medal at the last edition in 2022, did not compete in this edition due to injury.

Asian Cup 2025 table tennis: Day 3 India results

Men’s singles

Sharath Kamal lost to Sora Matsushima (JPN) 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-6)

Harmeet Desai lost to Kao Cheng-Jui (TPE) 3-1 (3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9)

Manav Thakkar lost to Chen Yuanyu (CHN) 3-0 (12-10, 11-9, 13-11)

Women’s singles

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