Cuttack: India added another golden chapter to the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships when its mixed doubles pair of G. Sathiyan and Archana Kamath defeated Singapore’s Peng Yu En Koen?Goi Rui Xuan 3-0 in the final at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.
The gold count, on the penultimate day of the championships, stands at 3. This had, in a way, avenged the earlier loss by the same Singaporean pair of A. Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula in the semifinal-the only gold missing from his closet-as well as the shock defeat of Sharth in men singles quarterfinal by Peng.
The Indian pair was on top in the final as they piled on the agony of their rivals, particularly on a tired Peng who could not cope with the pressure applied by the top-seeded duo who simply decimated them.
But second-seeded Sharath Kamal squandered three match points and then the quarterfinal match, shattering his men singles medal hope.
Though Sharath failed to go past the semifinals in mixed doubles, he would definitely rue the loss of the single to the younger legs of Peng which played a major role in the left-hander snatching victory from the jaws of defeat as he not only survived 1-3 deficits but also seized the advantage in the decider to enter the semifinals. The other Indians that made grade included top-seeded G. Sathiyan, who beat Nigerian Bode Abiodun 4-0 and Harmeet Desai who accounted for fellow Indian Sushmit Sriram 4-1. Sanil Shetty joined Sharath when he went down to England’s Thomas Jarvis 1-4.
Earlier, top-seeded Ho Tin-Tin of England disposed of unseeded Archana Kamath, the reigning national champion, 4-1 to enter the women singles semifinals. But second-seeded Madhurika Patkar and fourth seed Ayhika Mukerjee easily followed the English woman in the last-four stages while in a marathon battle, Sreeja Akula defeated Sutirtha Mukherjee 4-2 even as Madhurika downed Krittiwika Sinha Roy 4-1 and Ayhika beat Mousumi Paul in straight games.
Archana, who played well until this point, was unable to find her feet against the attacking Ho who cashed in on several unforced errors committed by the Indian. (UNI)
