Asian Games 2026: Quimcy Dsouza Closes In On Historic Teqball Medal For India

India's Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza is just a win away from securing a historic medal for the country in Teqball after marching into the women's singles semifinals at the Asian Games at Nagoya, Japan on Friday. Making her Asian Games debut, Quimcy stunned top-seeded Yuina Sakamoto of Japan 2-1 (10-12 12-11 13-11) in her opening Group A match that lasted 43 minutes at the Nagoya City Higashi Sports Center. The young Indian carried the momentum into her second group match and defeated Cambodia's Koemyean DY 2-0 (12-9 12-7) in 24 minutes to top her group and qualify for the semifinals.

Quimcy got a bye in the quarterfinals by virtue of topping her group.

She will take on Indonesia's Sumaya in the semifinals on Saturday and a win will ensure the first-ever medal for India in Teqball, one of the six sports making its debut at the continental showpiece.

If the 24-year-old Indian loses in the last four match, she will still have a shot at a bronze on Sunday.

However, the Indian pair of Quimcy and Mohammed Anas Imran Beg lost in the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event.

Quimcy and Beg lost 0-2 (7-12 10-12) against Vietnam's Hoang Minh Tan Nguyen and Gia Nghi Trinh in the quarterfinals.

But the Indians still have a chance to finish on the podium on Sunday, as they won the repechage tie.

The Indian duo started on a positive note defeating Philippines Jhoana Abulencia and Prince Augustin 2-0 (12-10 12-3) in their opening Group A tie before losing 1-2 (8-12 12-7 10-12) in the next match.

Quimcy and Beg suffered defeats in the next two ties as they lost 0-2 (3-12 8-12) against Cambodia's Thuonvireak Bun and Sophornraksmey Yorn before going down 0-2 (3-12 8-12) against the Thailand combination of Phakpong Dejaroen and Suphawadi Wongkhamchan.

But the Indian pair made a strong comeback to register a 2-0 (12-1 12-6) win over Salman Alebraheem and Hessah Alfailakawi to book a quarterfinal berth where they faltered.

In the repechage round, Quimcy and Beg got the better of Abulencia and Augustin for a second time in the day, beating the Filipino duo 2-0 (12-3 12-6) to stay in contention for a medal.

Teqball is one of the six sports alongside Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Padel, Surfing, BMX Freestyle and Virtual Taekwondo which are making their debut in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Teqball is a dynamic sport, a combination of football and table tennis. The game was invented by football enthusiasts Gabor Borsanyi, Gyorgy Gattyan, and Viktor Huszar in Hungary in 2014.

The first official Teqball World Championships was held in Budapest in 2017.

In Teqball, players use almost every part of their body except hands and arms to rally with a standard size five football across a curved table, divided by a transparent plexiglass.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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