Shillong: Indian men marched into the semis of the 12th South Asian Games table tennis team event after beating both Bangladesh and Nepal at the JN Indoor Sports Hall here on Saturday.
Top Indian paddler G Sathiyan was the first among his team mates to take the floor and he beat Mahbub Billah in three straight games. Sanil Shetty then defeated Manash Choudhury in four games, while Sudhanshu Grover overcame Mohammed Zaved.
India are in Group A with Bangladesh and Nepal. The two top teams from each group progress to the semifinals, meaning that India’s later win over Nepal confirmed their place. To take on the Nepal unit, India relied on Devesh Karia, national champion A Amalraj and Sudhanshu Grover.
Amalraj took some time to get fully warmed up as he lost the opening game to Shiv Sundhar Gathe 2-11 before bouncing back to take the contest with three straight games.
Earlier, national champion Manika Batra and the Indian women’s team breezed past Maldives and Pakistan in their opening matches of the table tennis team event to move into the semifinal stage.
The team comprising Batra, Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudhe swept aside the Maldivian trio of Jumana Fathimath, Mueena Mohamed and Rafa Nazim 3-0 without dropping a single game.
The Indian women then beat Pakistan 3-0, again without dropping a game, with a team comprising Mouma Das, K Shamini and Madhurika Patkar.
Round three action will start at 10:00 am on Sunday.
