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The Indian paddlers began their campaign at the Asian Games on a rousing note with both the men and women teams registering wins in their respective preliminary group matches on Friday. The men’s team started off with a facile 3-0 victory over Yemen and then got the better of Singapore 3-1 in their second Group F tie. In their first tie of the Games, veteran Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai made short work of their Yemenese opponents to notch straight game victories. Sathiyan set the ball rolling as he defeated Ali Omar Ahmed 11-3 11-2 11-6 in 14 minutes. The 41-year-old Sharath, playing his last Asian Games, then beat Ebrahim Abdulhakim Mohamm Gubran 11-3 11-4 11-6 to double India’s lead.
The country’s top-ranked player Harmeet sealed the tie with an 11-1 11-1 11-7 win over Magd Ahmed Ali Aldhubhani.
In their second tie of the day against Singapore, Sathiyan beat Izaac Young Quek 5-11 12-10 11-6 11-9, while Harmeet had to dig deep to get past Yew En Koen Pang 12-10 11-8 6-11 6-11 11-5.
Sharath, however, lost to Zhe Yu Clarence Chew 11-13 8-11 12-10 5-11 to hand Singapore some breathing space.
But Sathiyan ensured India continued their winning streak, beating Pang 11-7 10-12 11-9 11-6.
The Indian women paddlers too had a good day in office as they defeated Singapore 3-2 in their opening Pool F fixture.
It was not a perfect start for the Indian women as Ayhika Mukherjee lost 11-7 2-11 7-11 10-12 to Jian Zeng.
But Manika Batra drew the scores level for India, defeating Jingyi Zhou 11-9 9-11 11-7 11-3 and then Sreeja Akula gave India the lead with a fighting 12-14 11-9 8-11 11-9 11-7 win over Xin Ru Wong.
Singapore took the tie into the decider when Batra lost 3-11 11-3 10-12 12-10 10-12 to Zeng. But Mukherjee ensured a positive start for the Indian women by a registering 11-7 11-8 9-11 11-5 over Zhou.
While the Indian men will take on Tajikistan in their next group match, the women will be up against Nepal in their second tie. PTI SSC SSC AH AH
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