CHENNAI: Day five at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in Surat turned out to be Super Sunday for India as medal confirmations kept coming fast and furious. Against the odds, the mixed doubles gold-silver-bronze pipe dream became a reality, while gold-silver-bronze-bronze was assured in men’s doubles. Another five medals were guaranteed in men’s and women’s singles. The hosts have overhauled their 2013 edition harvest wherein they bagged two silver and seven bronze.
In the mixed final, G Sathiyan-Ankita Das thwarted Soumyajit Ghosh-Mouma Das to clinch gold. Earlier, Ghosh-Mouma were handed a walkover as the top-seeded Singaporeans Li Hu-Zhou Yiyan withdrew. In the other semi, Sathiyan-Ankita cruised past compatriots Sanil Shetty-Manika Batra. The latter bagged bronze.
Sathiyan heaped praise on Ankita, saying she flipped the script with her brilliant play to help India annex its first-ever mixed gold at the championships. “Ankita’s play surprised Ghosh and helped me open up my shoulders. Conversely, Mouma was unable to do the same, which resulted in Ghosh going for too much. I couldn’t have asked for a better result,” he told Express.
Both players lost their fathers recently — Ankita in September, Sathiyan in November — and the former dedicated the win to hers. “I miss my father and owe it all to him; I wanted to win the medal for him. It’s my first time at this event and to bag mixed gold is a dream come true... all credit to the trust and understanding Sathiyan and I share,” Ankita added.
A dejected Ghosh rued missed opportunities and wondered what might have been. “Mouma and I didn’t capitalise on our chances. We could have won the first and third games... the big points were on our racquet, but we didn’t play well enough,” he lamented.
In the men’s singles event, Ghosh, A Amalraj and Shetty entered the semifinals. In women’s singles, Mouma and Manika Batra advanced to the last four. In the men’s doubles, it was a clean sweep for India as Sudhanshu Grover-Abhishek Yadav, Ghosh-Desai, Amalraj-Shetty and Sathiyan-Devesh Karia advanced to the semifinals.
India results: Mixed doubles: Final: G Sathiyan/Ankita Das bt Soumyajit Ghosh/Mouma Das 11-7, 8-11, 15-13, 11-7. Semifinals: Ghosh/Mouma bt Li Hu/Zhou Yihan (SIN) w/o; Sathiyan/Ankita bt Sanil Shetty/Manika Batra 11-2, 13-11, 7-11, 11-8. Men’s doubles: Quarterfinals: Ghosh/Harmeet Desai bt Gavin Rumgay/Craig Howieson (SCO) w/o; Sudhanshu Grover/Abhishek Yadav bt Panx Xue Ji/Chen Feng (SIN) 11-6, 10-12, 7-11, 11-9, 11-8; A Amalraj/Shetty bt Marios Yiangou/Hristo Hristonov (CYP) 11-2, 11-5, 11-4; Sathiyan/Devesh Karia bt Li/Chew Zhe Yu Clarence w/o. Men’s singles: Quarterfinals: Amalraj bt Yadav 11-4, 11-4, 11-4, 11-2; Shetty bt Desai 9-11, 4-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5; Sathiyan lost to Chen (SIN) 11-13, 11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 11-4, 5-11; Ghosh bt Rumgay (ENG) 11-4, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10. Women’s singles: Quarterfinals: K Shamini lost to Zhou (SIN); Batra bt Ho Tin-Tin (ENG) 11-6, 11-6, 2-11, 11-7, 11-2; Mouma bt Pooja Sahasrabudhe 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10, 8-11, 10-12, 11-8; Ankita lost to Lin Ye (SIN) 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 6-11, 8-11.
