Ayhika, Sreeja upset world No.1 and 2 before India lose to China

The powerhouses restored order to eke out a 3-2 win in the end, but not before they were stretched by Indian paddlers

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In table tennis, the Chinese aren't used to this. Their women's team blazed to the 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships gold medal without dropping a single match. Sun Yingsha has never been beaten in an event of such kind, winning all her 26 singles matches in international team tournaments.

Enter Ayhika Mukherjee and Sreeja Akula, with their Friday blockbusters featuring the biggest wins of their singles careers. The two stunned world No.1 Sun and No 2 Wang Yidi, respectively, to hand India a jaw-dropping 2-1 lead against China in their opening encounter of this World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan. The powerhouses restored order to eke out a 3-2 victory in the end, but not before they were rattled unlike too many times in the recent past. This is now the second.

time in less than six months that Indian women have come out on top in encounters with the Chinese-a feat considered almost improbable in women's TT-after Ayhika and Sutirtha Mukherjee went past Wang and Cheng Meng for last year's Asian Games doubles bronze.