Harmeet Desai ended a 72 year drought in the Mixed Doubles event at the Asian Championships, by claiming a bronze medal alongside partner Yashaswini Ghorpade last week in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. 

They successfully beat pairs from Indonesia, Chinese Taipei and South Korea on their road to the semifinals, where their progress was halted by Japan's Miwa Harimoto and Sora Matsushima - the eventual gold medalists. 

Desai's experience saw him leading the Indian Men's team into the quarterfinals, where they lost out to South Korea, 3-0. They were able to rebound and win their 5-8 position match 3-0 over Kazakhstan, where Harmeet defeated Kirill Gerassimenko in straight games. 

In the singles Harmeet reached the round of 32, narrowly losing in 5 games to China's up and coming star Huang Youzheng. In the 17-32 position match he won in 5 games over South Korea's Kim Minhyeok. 

Desai won bronze with the Indian Men's team in 2021, 2023 and 2024, along with a Men's Doubles Bronze in 2021. Adding this 5th medal to his collection he becomes the most decorated Indian player at the Asian Table Tennis Championships event. 

Well done Harmeet from all of Team JOOLA!