Published: October 23, 2026 at 4:48 pm
India’s Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade not only won for themselves a mixed doubles medal at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Tashkent but also ended a 72-year wait for a podium finish at the continental event on Friday.
The Indians fell 0-3 to Japan’s top-ranked Sora Matsushima and Miwa Harimoto in the semifinals, earning the podium spot as both semifinal losers medal. The Japanese pair won 11-9, 11-9, 11-8. Every game was close, but the Japanese pair held on.
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This achievement, only the second ever for India after a 1954 silver, came with comebacks like 11-9 wins in the deciders and sparked celebrations over high-fives and emotional embraces during the tournament.
Harmeet-Yashaswini down South Koreans to enter semis
The Indian pair battled past South Korea’s Park Ganghyeon and Lee Daeun 3–2 (11-6, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9) in a gripping quarterfinal to secure at least bronze. After taking the opening game 11–6, the Indians lost the next two, leaving themselves under enormous pressure. However, the duo responded impressively, winning the fourth game 11–9 before holding their nerve to clinch the decider by the same margin.
The five-game victory underlined the pair’s resilience and ability to recover when the match threatened to slip away. The pair progressed to the quarterfinals with a 3-1 win over Chinese Taipei and Indonesia (3-0) in the preceding round, after enjoying a first-round bye.
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The achievement marks a significant moment for Indian table tennis. India’s previous mixed doubles medals at the Asian Championships came in 1952, when Gool Nasikwala and Kalyan Jayant won gold, and in 1954, when Yatin Vyas and Meena Parande secured silver. Harmeet and Yashaswini have now restored India’s presence on the podium in the discipline after more than seven decades.
Meanwhile, the second pair of Payas Jain and Syndrela Das exited in the quarterfinals, losing to Kuo Guan-Hong and Yeh Yi-Tian of Taipei 12-10, 11-9, 11-2.
List of Indian pairs to win a Mixed Doubles medal at Asian Table Tennis Championships:
2026: Yashaswini Ghorpade / Harmeet Desai (bronze)
1954: Meena Parande / Yatin Vyas (silver)
1952: Gool Nasikwala / Kalyanpur Jayant (gold)
