Teqball: India's Quimcy D'Souza narrowly misses bronze

Despite playing backtoback matches with a gap of just five minutes Indias Quimcy DSouza was almost on the verge of making history in the hitherto unknown sport of teqball but lost both her womens singles and mixed double bronze medal matches here on SundayThe 24yearold Quimcy pushed the Japanese world No 7 Yuina Sakamoto to the limit in the womens singles bronzemedal match going down 02 1112 1112 to miss a podium finish Just five minuets later she turned up again at the same arena along with Mohamed Anas Beg for another shot at a historic medal in the newly introduced sportThey however lost the mixed doubles bronzemedal match against Vietnams Hoang Minh Tan Nguyen and Gia Ngih Trinh 02 912 612 The match was played in a bestofthree sets format with the first player to win two sets taking the contestQuimcy who was born in Mumbai but currently settled in Bengaluru had to be given medical attention in the mixed doubled match after the Indian duo was trailing 69 in the second game After around 15 minutes the match restarted with Quimcy playing with a strap wrapped on her waistHer physio told PTI later that she had suffered back spasm and gluteus muscle strain during the first match singles The Indian duo did not have much chance in the mixed doubles match but Quimcy was unlucky in her womens singles matchShe had a set point in the opening game and then raced to a 108 lead in the second as she looked to force a decider She even saved a match point and served a winner only to commit a foul that handed Sakamoto the matchWhen scoreline was tied a 1111 Quimcy made fantastic effort sending the ball down crosscourt and she thought she had won it But the match official gave the point to her opponent A win in the first game would have given Quimcy the psychological advantageEven I thought I got the point And I thought it was a legal return But you cant really control what the referees say And you cant let it go to your head I mean after all its their call You have to accept whatever it is I forgot about it I got back Quimcy told PTI laterPlaying in front of a partisan home crowd Sakamoto may have won in straight sets but the scoreline did little justice to the fight Quimcy produced There was barely any time to recover as moments after her singles loss Quimcy was back on court alongside Anas for their mixed doubles bronzemedal clash against the Vietnamese pairTrailing 59 in the second game the physical toll of playing two intense matches in little over an hour began to show Quimcy grimaced in pain as her lower back was massaged by the team physio before she took a 10minute medical timeoutShe returned with a strapped waist but could not sustain the momentum with the Indian duo eventually going down 02 912 612 Asked she ever thought of not making a return to the court after her injury Quimcy said Physically I was not able to move But in my mind we still had the match I knew I could give it my all Me and Anas both knew that we could pull this off irrespective of what the injury wasBut it was a little too harsh I had this pain since morning It was not a lot during the singles match but it kept on building In mixed doubles it happened to be a lot where I couldnt even bend But that was physically Mentally we had not given up We didnt think we were going to concede itQuimcy said she had played a couple of backtoback matches throughout the tournament By the end of the last day I think my body was extremely tight I couldnt perform The first day was very exhausting Eight matches 12 hours straight playing Matches are not easy Because the opponent that I had in womens singles did not play in mixed doubles And the opponents we had in mixed doubles did not play womens singles So they had enough rest But nothing to complain about that Whatever we did we gave it our allDespite the heartbreaking finishes in both events Indias deep run in the tournament underlined the countrys rapid progress in a sport that is still relatively new back home As per the rules the first player to reach 12 points wins a set In the first two sets a player can win by a single point while if the match goes to a deciding third set the winner must secure a twopoint margin to seal the issueTeqball is a noncontact sport that combines a bit of football and table tennis played by hitting a standard football back and forth over a specially curved TTlike table Players use any part of their body except their hands and arms with a maximum of three touches allowed per side to return the ballThe sport made its debut at the 20th edition of the continental showpieceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever