CUTTACK: The Indian men’s and women’s teams were the first to book their semifinal slots after winning their Super Eights group matches in the 21st Commonwealth TT Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here. The women finished their Group F engagements with emphatic victories over Wales (3-0), Malaysia (3-0) and Nigeria (3-0). The men defeated Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Wales with identical 3-0 margins.
Anthony Amalraj finally got a chance to play, beating Sri Lankan Krishan Wickramaratha 3-0 in the opener but struggled a bit against Malaysian Feng Chee Leong before winning 3-1. It was easy for the rest. While G Sathiyan got a run against Sri Lanka, Manav Thakkar played both against the island nation as well as Wales. Harmeet Desai played two: Malaysia and Wales.
Among women, Archana Kamath featured in all three matches while the other players, including Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee were rotated. All the players came out with flying colours. Besides India, England men and women, too, made the semifinals. Their men beat Singapore 3-2 before claiming a 3-1 victory over Australia. Their women, on the other hand, beat Australia 3-1 and then trounced Sri Lanka 3-0.
Sathiyan, Manika top seeds
Sathiyan and Manika were given top billing during the singles draw. All the Indian male players were among the top eight seeds while only three women — Manika, Archana and Madhurika were seeded and got first-round byes in the main draw.
Results (Super Eights)
Men | Group E: England bt Singapore 3-2; Nigeria bt Australia 3-1; England bt Australia 3-1; Singapore bt Nigeria 3-0. Group F: India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Amalraj bt Krishan 11-5, 11-6, 11-3; Sathiyan bt Nirmala 11-5, 11-3, 11-4; Manav bt Milinda 8-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-1); Malaysia bt Wales 3-0; India bt Malaysia 3-0 (Amalraj bt Feng Chee 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-8; Sharath bt Rizal 11-9, 11-8, 11-6; Harmeet bt Wong 11-2, 11-4, 11-4); Wales bt Sri Lanka 3-1; India bt Wales 3-0 (Manav bt Dean 11-9, 11-6, 11-3; Harmeet bt Callum 11-9, 11-7, 11-5; Amalraj bt Benedict 11-5, 11-6, 11-5).
Women | Group E: Singapore bt Sri Lanka 3-0; England bt Australia 3-1; England bt Singapore 3-1; Australia bt Sri lanka 3-0. Group F: India bt Wales 3-0 (Madhurika bt Charlotte 5-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8; Archana bt Beth 11-8, 11-6, 11-7; Ayhika bt Lara 11-3, 11-8, 11-7); Nigeria bt Malaysia 3-1; India bt Malaysia 3-0 (Archana bt Tee Ai Xin 11-6, 12-10, 11-6; Manika bt Ho Ying 13-11, 8-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9; Madhurika bt Chang 11-8, 8-11, 11-2, 6-11, 11-5); Nigeria bt Wales 3-2; India bt Nigeria 3-0 (Archana bt Offiong Edem 6-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-8; Manika bt Ajoke 11-4,1-3, 11-4; Sutirtha bt Cecilia 11-4, 11-8, 11-8).