India end on a high as TT event concludes

SHILLONG: G Sathiyan and Devesh Karia made light work of Anthony Amalraj and Sanil Shetty in the final of the table tennis men’s doubles at the 12th South Asian Games 2016 here on Wednesday morning. The win denied Amalraj his third gold medal of the tournament. Amalraj was looking for his third gold medal of the tournament, but the national singles champion and his partner were taken down by the young pairing of Sathiyan/Karia in straight games, 11-1, 11,8, 11-6 at the JN Indoor Sports Hall. Earlier, Manika Batra and Pooja Sahasrabudhe were crowned champions of the women’s doubles after they defeated Mouma Das and K Shamini 11-7, 13-11, 11-5. In the finals, which were an all-Indian affair, two more gold and two silver were added to the host nation’s kitty. Bronze medals were awarded to the losing semifinalists. In the women’s category, bronze was won by Nabita Shrestha and Elina Maharjan of Nepal and Ishara Madhurangi and Erandi Warusawithana of Sri Lanka. Both bronzes in the men’s category went to pairs from Sri Lanka – Rohan Sirisena/Chameern Ginge and Udaya Ranasinghe/ Nirmala Jayasinghe. Later in the day, an enthralling women’s singles table tennis final saw veteran Mouma Das beat national champion Manika Batra 4-3 in a grueling seven-game encounter. In the men’s final, Sathiyan took the first game 11- 6, before Amalraj equalised with the exact same score in the second. The eventual gold medal winner was leading 8-6 in the third when Sathiyan injured his hand during play and needed medical attention. He soldiered on and lost the third game 11-6 and it was 2-2 in the fourth when, after further medical aid, he was forced to concede. Rohan Sirisena and Udaya Ranasinghe (both of Sri Lanka) were awarded bronze as losing semifinalists.