New Delhi, September 26: The Indian team, comprising Mouma Das, Ankita Das, K. Shamini, Pooja Sahasrabudhe and Manika Batra, kept a clean slate in the women’s team first stage and topped Group B of the Asian Table Tennis Championships at Pattaya (Thailand) here today.

They are just one win away from qualifying for the Champion Division as both India and the Philippines have been given quarterfinal byes in stage 2. A win in the semifinals will ensure them a place in the Champion Division where they will get to rub shoulders with the top continental teams.

The Indians play the winners of quarterfinals between hosts Thailand and Vietnam while the Philippines will take on the winners of Iran and North Korea. The semifinals are slated for tomorrow morning. The rest of the teams will play to decide positions.

With just one team from each of the six groups advancing to the knockout phase, it was imperative for the Indian paddlers to top the group. And they did exactly that, beating first Pakistan 3-0, followed by a similar win over Nepal and, finally, Qatar to log six points on the table.

In the first group match against Pakistan, inform Manika Das beat Shabnam Bilal 11-5, 11-6, 11-3, Mouma Das accounted for Raila Kashif and Ankita Das 11-3, 11-1, 12-10 before Ankita Das defeating Aisha Ansari 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, all wins coming in just an hour.

In the second group match against Nepal, there was no difference in the pattern of victory except the fact that K. Shamini and Pooja Sahasrabudhe replacing Manika and Ankita. Mouma opened against Swechchha Nembang with a 11-5, 11-5, 11-1 win, then K. Shamini beat Rabina Maharjan 11-2, 11-2, 11-6 and Pooja Sahasrabudhe downed Selisha Khadgi 11-5, 11-6, 11-3. In fact, this victory came in a much quicker time.

With a cushion of four points from two wins, the Indian women now needed to beat Qatar. With just two changes in team combination—Anita for Mouma and Manika for Pooja—the Indians achieved their goal as Ankita in the first singles beat Maha Faramarzi 11-3, 11-4, 11-2, Shamini defeated Noora Al-Abri 11-5, 11-3, 11-8 and Manika cleaned up Kholoud Hussain 11-5, 11-4, 11-1.

“But the task in stage two will not be as easy, but I am confident of a good show by our girls,” said Coach Bhawani Mukherjee. “Hopefully we post good wins in the next stage,” he added.

The Indian men paddlers are in Group A and are clubbed with the Philippines and Qatar. The men’s team has earned this position, following their performance in the previous championships held at Macau.