A couple of years ago, Harmeet Desai could not even imagine playing mixed doubles, let alone winning a medal. But belief can make wonderful things happen. At the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Tashkent, Harmeet, pairing up with Yashaswini Ghorpade, pulled off a remarkable result for India.
\n\nThe duo beat South Korea’s Park Ganghyeon and Lee Daeun 3-2 (11-6, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9) in a thrilling quarterfinal clash to secure a bronze medal and end India’s 72-year wait. Yatin Vyas and Meena Parande were the last Indians to win a mixed doubles silver in 1954.
\n\nThe result had been in the making for some time. A scratch pair, put together just before the 2024 Paris Olympics to see how things would work out, had struck the right chord. The idea was driven by mixed doubles’ inclusion in the team event for the Los Angeles Olympics and 22-year-old Yashaswini’s fierce attacking ability.
\n\n“I had been following Yashaswini for a couple of years before that, and I had never seen anyone attack the ball the way she did with her pimple rubbers. That was kind of an X-factor in mixed doubles. I thought that if I could improve certain aspects of my…
Original source: https://www.timesnownews.com/sports
