July 27, 2014
Indian men's table tennis team blanked hosts
Scotland 3-0 to reach the semifinals but it was curtains for their women
counterpart after they suffered a 1-3 loss to Singapore in the last
four contest at the 20th Commonwealth Games here today.
Soumyajit Ghosh started the proceedings for Indian
men's team as he brushed aside 29-year-old Gavin Rumgay 11-6 11-5 11-6
to put India ahead at the Scotstoun Sports Campus.
Experienced campaigner Achanta Sharath Kamal then
took the court and notched up a 11-7 11-7 11-8 win over Craig Howieson
to make it 2-0.
The hosts needed a win in the third match to stay
afloat but Harmeet Desai and Ghosh put paid to their hopes after beating
the pair Sean Doherty and Craig 11-7 11-8 11-6 to complete the 3-0
drubbing.
For the Indian women's team, who had lost to
Singapore at Delhi Games to settle for silver, Manika Batra was the only
bright spot.
Shamini Kumaresan was given the responsibility to
give India a positive start but the Indian lost to Tienwei Feng 1-11
11-13 5-11 in the first match.
Manika then played her heart out and eked out a
11-7 5-11 11-8 5-11 11-7 win over Mengyu Yu to help India draw level at
1-1 after the second match.
Madhurika Patkar and Kumaresan then paired up but
they could not get across Lin Ye and Mengyu as they went down 9-11 7-11
5-11 as Singapore were leading 2-1.
In the fourth match, the onus was put on Manika
again to bring India back in the contest. The Delhi girl tried her best
before going down 9-11 11-9 6-11 5-11 as India crashed out of the
competition.
Earlier, the women's team had defeated New Zealand 3-0 and Shamini Kumaresan played a vital role in the victory.
The ploy to play Shamini in the first singles
against 52-year-old Chun Li worked. The Indian played a solid match to
beat 2002 singles Commonwealth Games champion and five-time Olympian
5-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5.
Manika, who plays with a pimpled rubber, outsmarted Chunl Li's sister Karen 11-13, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 to give India a 2-0 cushion.
In the doubles rubber, being played in the team
competition for the first time at Games, Shamini and Madhurika Patkar
outplayed Karen and Yang Sun 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 for India's well deserved
victory.
"The match was much tougher than what the scoreline
suggests. The New Zealand team is full of Chinese and we had a hard
time beating them in Delhi four years ago," coach Bhawani Mukherjee told
PTI referring to India's 3-2 win over New Zealand in the Delhi edition.
"We made the decision to field Shamini against Chun
Li and it worked out well. The other girls also did their job," said
Mukherjee.
The losing semifinalists will battle for the bronze tomorrow.
