Asian Games: No medal but Quimcy Dsouza's fight puts teqball on the map for India

India suffered back-to-back heartbreaks in teqball at the Asian Games on Sunday morning, September 20. Two bronze medals were within reach, one in the women’s singles and another in the mixed doubles, but both slipped away as India finished fourth in the two events.

For Quimcy Dsouza, the morning began with a narrow defeat that was difficult to take.

Up against Japan’s World No. 7 Yuina Sakamoto in the women’s singles bronze-medal match, Quimcy fought back from a slow start and pushed the home favourite all the way. The scoreline read 12-11, 12-11 in Sakamoto’s favour, but it barely captured the drama that unfolded inside a noisy Nagoya City Higashi Sports Center.

Quimcy did not start strongly. Sakamoto raced into a 5-1 lead in the opening stages, putting the Indian on the back foot almost immediately.

But Quimcy began finding her angles.

Her smashes did not carry overwhelming power, but she kept finding awkward areas of the table, forcing Sakamoto to stretch and making it increasingly difficult for the Japanese star to control the rallies. Point by point, Quimcy chipped away at the deficit.

At 11-11, she had dragged herself level.

It was the sort of comeback that could have broken Sakamoto’s rhythm. Instead, the Japanese player held her nerve and took the opening set 12-11.

For Quimcy, though, the comeback had changed the mood of the contest. She carried that momentum into the second set and opened up a lead of her own. At 10-9, she was one point away from taking the match into a deciding set.

Then Sakamoto changed the contest again.

Her feather touches became more precise and her defence more watertight. Quimcy, who had spent much of the set dictating the exchanges, suddenly found herself being dragged into a different kind of battle. Sakamoto clawed her way back and closed out the second set 12-11.

The defeat left Quimcy stunned.

She sat on her haunches after the final point, visibly shaken and nearly in tears. The bronze medal had been there, within touching distance, only to disappear after two sets decided by the smallest possible margin.

But there was no time to sit with it. Quimcy had another bronze-medal match to play.

INDIA LOSE TO VIETNAM IN MIXED DOUBLES

This time, she returned to the court alongside Mohammed Anas Beg for the mixed doubles, against Vietnam’s Tan Ngyuen and Gia Trinh. And almost immediately, it became clear that this would be a different kind of fight.

Quimcy and Beg struggled from the start, losing the opening set 12-9. But the bigger problem was developing on Quimcy’s side of the table.

Her back was troubling her, forcing her to receive treatment from the physio during the break. Things only got worse in the second set.

Quimcy could no longer lift her right leg properly to execute her smashes. Beg, meanwhile, was struggling with nerves and miscontrolling the ball at crucial moments. The Vietnamese pair took advantage and pulled further away.

Eventually, India were forced to call a time-out, which was later converted into an injury break.

Quimcy could barely stand.

For 10 to 15 minutes, the physio worked on her as she grimaced through the treatment. When she finally returned to the court, she could only just about walk back into position.

By then, the medal was effectively gone.

India could have forfeited the match, but they refused to fade away. Quimcy finished it with Beg by her side. India lost the second set 12-6 and, with it, another bronze medal.

INDIA GETS INTRODUCED TO TEQBALL

There would be no medal for India in teqball at its Asian Games debut.

But Quimcy Dsouza had given the sport a memorable introduction in Nagoya. She went from being nearly in tears after narrowly losing the women’s singles bronze-medal match to returning to the court minutes later for another medal game, this time in mixed doubles, despite struggling with a back injury.

India finished fourth in both events, but Quimcy’s performances put one of the country’s lesser-known sports in the spotlight on its Asian Games debut. For Indian teqball, the medals will have to wait. But Quimcy Dsouza has given the sport a name to remember.

WHO IS QUIMCY DSOUZA?

Quimcy Dsouza is a 24-year-old teqball player from Mumbai who has emerged as one of India’s leading names in the sport. Her route to teqball, however, was far from conventional. She began her sporting journey in athletics, representing Maharashtra, before moving into Under-19 football for the state.

Dsouza took up teqball in 2022 and quickly turned the switch into a serious competitive career. She has since become a seven-time national champion and has founded the Teqball Club of Bangalore, contributing to the development of the sport in India.

She has also built a career outside sport, working as a test engineer at Decathlon in Bengaluru. On the international circuit, Dsouza has reached a career-high world ranking of No. 24 and finished ninth at the 2026 World Championships in Romania.

Her rise has come as teqball continues to gain a foothold in India and internationally. With her background in athletics and football before taking up teqball, Dsouza has become one of the faces of the sport for India.

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