Indore, October 29: India’s young paddlers turned in a strong performance on Day 3 of the third Asian Youth Games in Manama (Bahrain), clinching a mixed doubles bronze and advancing confidently in the singles draw.

The pair of Syndrela Das and Sarthak Arya assured India a podium finish in mixed doubles after a spirited campaign. They overcame Korea’s Lee Seungsoo and Heo Yerim 3–1 in the quarterfinals before narrowly going down 2–3 to China’s Tang Yiren and Hu Yi in a hard-fought semifinal. With table tennis awarding joint bronze medals to semifinalists, the Indian duo secured the country’s first table tennis medal of the Games.

Earlier in the quarterfinals, Divyanshi Bhowmick and Ritvik Gupta bowed out after a 1–3 defeat to China’s Yao Ruixuan and Li Hechen.

India enjoyed a productive run in the singles as well, with Divyanshi, Syndrela, M. Hansini, and Ritvik Gupta all registering convincing victories to advance to the Round of 16. Sahil Rawat suffered a narrow 2–3 loss to Iran’s Mobin Amiri, while Sarthak Arya went down 0–3 to China’s Zhou Guanhong.

With multiple players advancing to the next round, India will aim to build on its impressive start and expand its medal tally in the coming days.