Shillong: The Indian men’s and women’s table tennis teams bagged Gold in their respective events at the JN Indoor Sports Hall here on Sunday to provide a boost to India’s dominance at the top of the 12th South Asian Games standings.
In a splendid display, the Indian women’s table tennis team bagged the gold medal without dropping a single match. After dismissing Maldives and Pakistan in the group stage on Saturday, the Indians sailed past Bangladesh in the semis.
The hosts picked up where they left off on Sunday to claim the coveted Gold by beating Pakistan yet again in the final.
Pakistan had no answer and bowed to the mighty Indians who won 3-0.
The victorious Indian trio was national champion Manika Batra, Mouma Das and K Shamini.
Batra defeated Raheela Kashif 11-2, 11-6, 11-6, while Das beat Shabnam Bilal 11-7, 11-4, 11-4. Shamini then wrapped things up with a 11-3, 11-3, 11-7 victory over Ayesha Ansari.
Both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were awarded bronze medals.
The women’s individual events will kick start on Monday.
The men’s team, meanwhile, was also as impressive as the women.
A Amalraj, G Sathiyan and S Shetty beat the Sri Lankan trio of Udaya Ranasinghe, Rohan Srisena and N Jayasinghe in three straight matches to defend their title.
Earlier, India beat Pakistan in three straight matches to reach the final round.
“It was not such a tough win,” Indian coach Arup Basak said after the medal ceremony.
“We are definitely planning for the Olympics and intend to go for the World Championship, which is going to be held in April,” he added.
It may be mentioned that India are sitting at the top of the SAG table with as many as 30 gold medals in their kitty and an overall total of 45 medals.
