Tashkent, October 23, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
India’s Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade have assured the country a historic medal in mixed doubles at the Asian Table Tennis Championships, ending a 72-year wait for a podium finish in the event.
The Indian duo secured at least a bronze medal by defeating South Korea’s Park Ganghyeon and Lee Daeun 3-2 in a closely contested quarterfinal in Tashkent on Friday. Their semifinal qualification marks India’s first mixed doubles medal at the continental championships since 1954.
Desai and Ghorpade will next face Japan’s Sora Matsushima and Miwa Harimoto in the semifinal, with a place in the final at stake.
The achievement comes after another Indian pair, Payas Jain and Syndrela Das, failed to reach the medal round. They lost 0-3 to China’s Yi Chen and Huang Youzheng in their quarterfinal.
The breakthrough offers Desai and Ghorpade a chance to make amends following their medal-less campaigns at the recent Asian Games.
Desai competed in the men’s team, mixed doubles and men’s doubles events at the Games but did not secure a medal. India’s men’s team reached the round of 16 before losing to South Korea. In mixed doubles, Desai and Ghorpade exited in the quarterfinals after losing to China’s Lin Shidong and Kuai Man.
Desai also partnered Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in men’s doubles, where they were eliminated in the third round by Japan’s Sora Matsushima and Shunsuke Togami.
Ghorpade also returned without a medal from the Asian Games. She lost in the women’s singles third round to Japan’s Miwa Harimoto, while her women’s doubles partnership with Diya Chitale ended in the quarterfinals against China’s Fan Shuhan and Chen Yi.
Their performance in Tashkent has now placed the Indian pair on the brink of a historic final.
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