Ayhika Mukherjee revealed standing on the podium with the bronze medal in the Asian Games at Hangzhou on Monday she was remembering those who discouraged them saying they would not be successful.

En route to New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon Ayhika and Sutirtha, bronze girls were speaking over the phone at Hong Kong airport. When asked to whom they dedicated the medals, Ayhika said, "We dedicate this success to our table tennis family which includes our present coach, our childhood coach, our parents, the people in  and Bengal table tennis fraternity who have always been encouraging us." 

After a little pause, Ayhika added, "We dedicate this success also to those people who discouraged us predicting we would not be able to succeed. Their discouragement increased our motivation." 

Commenting on the defeat at the hands of the Korean pair in the semi-final of the women's doubles event, both Ayhika and Sutirtha admitted Koreans were superior on the board. Ayhika added, “We could not combat their variation in strategy. They were consistent and superb. If we had watched them from the stands we would have had to applaud their game strategy. Otherwise, I do not feel we were technically inferior. Defeating the Chinese pair at least proved that we have been technically mature now.” 

Both the paddlers will take part in their next ITTF-ranked competition in Oman from New Delhi. Commenting on their lesson from the defeat, Sutirtha revealed, “We have started playing together in the doubles for just one year. So, we are gradually improving. I feel we need more exposure at the international level, playing against stronger paddlers to gain the maturity.” 

Both the paddlers sounded focused on earning qualification for the Paris Olympics next year. Sutirtha added, "That is next year early. Before that, we need to be consistent in the domestic competitions as well as international tournaments including the World Championship, early next year.”