Both the men’s and women’s teams greeted their Pakistani counterparts before and after their Table Tennis team event at the 2026 Asian Games
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Syndrela Das shaking hands with Pakistani counterpart at 2026 Asian Games(Credits: X)
Hand shakes during Indo-Pak meetings at major cricketing might be prohibited but it wasn’t the case when the two nations met each other in Table Tennis at the on-going 2026 Asian Games at Aichi and NagoyaDuring the women’s team event earlier today, Indian players shook hands with their Pakistani counterparts, going against the culture followed by the cricket teams.
The Indian team, consisting of Suthirtha Mukherjee, Syndrela Das and Sreeja Akula kept the spirits high as they shook hands with team Pakistan following a straight forward 3-0 victory at the Toyota HallThe Indian trio were coming on the back of an one-sided win over Singapore in their Asian Games opener.
During the contest against Pakistan today, Suthirtha, Syndrela and Sreeja produced one-sided performancesSuthirtha claimed the first game by 3-0 with scores of 11-3, 11-3, 11-4 against Aleena Khan.
Syndrela Das followed it up with another straight forward win over Kalsoom Khan by 11-6, 11-7 and 11-5 whereas Sreeja Akula wrapped things up with a 11-4, 11-4 and 11-5 win.
Following the match, all the three players took time out to shake hands with their Pakistani counterparts and while some fans reacted against it, others jumped in for support.
The men’s Table Tennis team followed suit and also shook hands with their Pakistan opponents before and after the matchThe trio of Harmeet Desai, G Sathiyan and Payas Jain also won in an one-sided affair by 3-0 to proceed to the next round of the gamesThis also sparked mixed reactions among fans.
What happened on day two of the Asian Games?
On day two of the games, India’s day started with a silver medal in Men’s 10m Air Rifle Team final as Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil, Parth Rakesh Mane and Himanshu Dhillon shot a total of 1890.1 points with China claiming gold with a world record score of 1899.0.
In Mixed Martial Arts, which is making its debut at the Asian Games, Suchika Tariyal claimed bronze after losing to Singapore in the semi-finalThe bout, which ended in a draw, went against Suchika’s favour just because she was 700 grams heavier than her opponent.
Then in Men’s 10m Air Rifle Individual final, two Indians – Himanshu Dhillon and Rudrankksh Patil secured podium finishes, winning a silver and bronze respectively.
The men’s and women’s Table Tennis teams also won their respective matches against Pakistan.
