Indian pair wins table tennis gold
India shared the spoils with powerhouse Singapore in the table tennis competition of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Sharath Kamal Achanta and Subhajit Saha made the host nation proud as they claimed the men's doubles title.
The pair defeated Singaporeans Gao Ning and Yang Zi 3-2 in the final. After an intense start from both teams, Singapore took the first set 11-9. Egged on by the local crowd, the Indian duo made up for the early setback to take the next two sets 12-10 11-4.
Gao and Yang bounced back to win the fourth set 5-11 but Achanta and Saha regained their composure in the deciding set to take the match 11-8.
"It couldn't get any better than this for us. We played very close all through the match, there was so much pressure on each one of us. We just wanted to get a medal," Achanta said.
England’s Andrew Baggaley and Liam Pitchford pocketed the bronze medal after beating Australians William Henzell and Robert Frank 11-7 8-11 12-10 10-12 11-6.
Baggaley was happy to bring home a medal. "I was very sick just before the event. I lost half a stone and missed two weeks of training. I can't believe I made it here even," said the Englishman, who won a gold medal in 2002 and a silver medal in 2006.
Meanwhile, Gao and Yang will dispute the men's singles gold after winning their respective semi-final matches. Gao swept local bet Soumyadeep Roy 4-0 while Yang edged Achanta 4-3.
In the women's singles final, Singaporean Feng Tianwei crushed compatriot Yu Mengyu 4-1 to win the gold medal. The world No 2 needed only 25 minutes to dispose of her opponent 11-8 7-11 11-8 11-5 11-7.
Feng can now heave a sigh of relief after achieving her mission. "I'm quite tired now as I've played 13 matches in the last three days with our matches stretching from morning till night," she said.
Wang Yuegu claimed the bronze medal with a thrilling 11-5 5-11 11-9 11-6 8-11 8-11 11-8 victory over Sun Beibei in another all-Singaporean showdown. It was Wang's third medal of the Games after winning golds in the team and mixed doubles.
Singapore is also assured of another gold medal as Feng and Wang and Sun and Li Jiawei reached the women's doubles final. Feng and Wang crushed Australians Vivian Tan and Peri Campbell-Innes 3-0 while Sun and Li walloped India's Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma
Das on a similar score.
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