India’s Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza moved within one win of creating history after reaching the women’s singles semifinals in teqball at the Asian Games in Nagoya on Friday.Making her Asian Games debut, Quimcy upset top seed Yuina Sakamoto of Japan 2-1 (10-12, 12-11, 13-11) in her first Group A match.She followed that up with a 2-0 (12-9, 12-7) win over Cambodia’s Koemyean DY in her second group match, finishing on top of Group A and booking a place in the semifinals.By topping the group, Quimcy received a bye in the quarterfinals.The 24-year-old will face Indonesia’s Sumaya in Saturday’s semifinal. A win will guarantee India its first-ever medal in Teqball, one of the six sports making its Asian Games debut.Even if she loses in the semifinals, Quimcy will still have a chance to win bronze on Sunday.
Mixed doubles pair eyes bronze
In the mixed doubles event, Quimcy and Mohammed Anas Imran Beg were beaten 0-2 (7-12, 10-12) by Vietnam’s Hoang Minh Tan Nguyen and Gia Nghi Trinh in the quarterfinals.However, the Indian pair remain in contention for a bronze medal after winning their repechage match.Quimcy and Beg began their campaign with a 2-0 (12-10, 12-3) win over the Philippines pair of Jhoana Abulencia and Prince Augustin in Group A before losing their next match 1-2 (8-12, 12-7, 10-12).They then suffered back-to-back defeats, losing 0-2 (3-12, 8-12) to Cambodia’s Thuonvireak Bun and Sophornraksmey Yorn, and by the same score to Thailand’s Phakpong Dejaroen and Suphawadi Wongkhamchan.The Indian duo bounced back with a 2-0 (12-1, 12-6) win over Salman Alebraheem and Hessah Alfailakawi to reach the quarterfinals, where they lost to Vietnam.In the repechage round, Quimcy and Beg defeated Abulencia and Augustin for the second time on the same day, winning 2-0 (12-3, 12-6) to stay in the race for a medal.Teqball is one of six sports making its Asian Games debut in Aichi-Nagoya, alongside Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Padel, Surfing, BMX Freestyle and Virtual Taekwondo.
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The sport combines elements of football and table tennis. It was invented in Hungary in 2014 by Gabor Borsanyi, Gyorgy Gattyan and Viktor Huszar, while the first official Teqball World Championships were held in Budapest in 2017.In Teqball, players use every part of the body except their hands and arms to rally a standard size-five football across a curved table divided by a transparent plexiglass net.
