Singaporeans win two more table tennis golds
The last day of the 2010 Commonwealth Games table tennis tournament witnessed an all-Singaporean final in the men's singles and women's doubles events.
Yang Zi defeated Gao Ning in the men's singles final while Sun Beibei and Li Jiawei beat Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu to rule the women's doubles event at the Yamuna Sports Complex on Thursday.
The final showdown between Yang and Gao turned out to be a lopsided contest. Yang, ranked 69th in the world, easily took the first two sets 11-3 11-6. World no. 17 Gao bounced back to take the third set
11-7 but Yang regained his composure to win the next two sets 11-5 11-6.
"I play with him all the time so I would not really call it an upset. We are familiar with each other's game and today I came out as the winner," Yang said.
India's Sharath Kamal Achanta claimed the bronze medal after sweeping compatriot Soumyadeep Roy 4-0.
"It's hard to fight against each other after playing an energy-draining match the other day (men's doubles). We were sluggish. I am happy that I won a bronze," said Achanta, who posted an 11-8 11-5 12-10
11-9 victory.
In the women's doubles final, second seeds Li and Sun came back from two sets down to upset favourites Feng and Wang. The two teams fought intensely in the first two sets with Feng and Wang posting identical
11-8 wins to take a 2-0 lead. But Li and Sun refused to surrender and fought back to take the third set 11-8. The win proved to be the match's turning point as Li and Sun easily took the next two sets 11-3 11-6 to wrap up the match.
The victory gave Sun and Li their third-straight Commonwealth Games doubles gold medal following their victories in Manchester and Melbourne.
"My son just turned one yesterday and it's been only half a year since I returned to competitive table tennis, so I'm really happy with how I've been playing, first at the world championships and then
here," said Li, who also achieved a personal milestone by winning her 10th career gold medal in the quadrennial multi-sport meet.
In the bronze-medal play-off, Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak gave the hosts a reason to celebrate as they crushed Australians Vivian Tan and Peri Campbell-Innes 11-4 11-7 11-1.
Singapore ended their campaign with six gold, five silver and one bronze medal to win the overall title. The only gold that slipped from the Singaporeans' hands was the men's doubles, which was won by
India's Achanta and Subhajit Saha.
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