NEW DELHI: India once again showed their prowess in Commonwealth Table Tennis Team championships. Manush Shah once again spearheaded India's surge as men's overcame a resilient Malaysia 3-2 in the final of the team event at the Thyagaraj Stadium on Thursday. Earlier, the women’s squad thrashed Malaysia without breaking a sweat, wrapping up the final with a 3-0 verdict.
It was a tricky final matchup for the men’s team, especially after their loss to Malaysia in the league phase. Manav Thakkar put up a brave front and discussed the strategic change to their team composition—they left out Harmeet Desai from the lineup—and the revenge factor. Even the Malaysians had brought in their second player to play the third rubber. And they made a change in the women’s team—Karen, who accounted for Yangzi Lu, the world’s top-ranked woman paddler here at No. 31.
Strategically, everything clicked for India because the end justified the means. Until Manav lost the fourth rubber to left-handed Wong, Manush took on Qi Shen Wong in the decisive rubber for the gold medal match.
Manav led 2-0 comfortably, and there was no indication that Wong, ranked No. 204, would recover so quickly to level the score and then restore team parity by the fourth rubber, when the world No. 41 lost 2-3, leaving the country’s fate to Manush, ranked No.40.
Manush had his hiccups, but came back strongly every time. He would lead comfortably, give away several points to trail, and then pick up from where he left off. In the second rubber, he lost the first game after deuce before leading 2-1. But he allowed Wong to level and press home the advantage as he led 7-4. However, one negative point he got from Wong turned it around, as he went on to take seven points on the trot.
Carrying that confidence into the decisive rubber, Manav led from start to finish and never looked back, comfortably defeating Javen Choong in straight games.
Sathiyan lost badly to Hong Yu Tey, including the third deuce game (10-12) of the third rubber after being just a game point away (10-8).
Though she dropped a game after leading 2-1, Swastika did well to put India up. Sreeja Akula, who has dropped to No. 67 in the world rankings since her selection into the Asian Games squad in the latter half of June, led 2-1 before letting Karen level at 2-2, then wrap up quickly in the decider. Then Yashaswini, who is now No. 64, put aside the first-game loss before mustering the courage to send Alice Lee Sian Chang 3-1.
The winners received a prize purse of $ 10,000 for their efforts, while the Malaysians received half that amount as they finished runners-up. Union Minister Harsh Malhotra gave away the prizes.
Results (Team Finals)
Men: India bt Malaysia 3-2 (Manav Thakkar bt Javen Choong 12-10, 11-7, 5-11, 11-5, Manush Shah bt Qi Shen Wong 11-13, 11-9, 11-7, 2-11, 11-7, G. Sathiyan lost to Hong Yu Tey 7-11, 8-11, 10-12, Manav lost to Wong 11-4, 8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 1-11, Manush bt Choong 11-7, 11-4, 11-4).
Women: India bt Malaysia 3-0 (Swastika Ghosh bt Ai Xin Tee 11-7, 11-2, 9-11, 11-9, Sreeja Akula bt Karen Lyne Anak Dick 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 5-11, 11-3, Yashaswini Ghorpade bt Alice Lee Sian Chang 7-11, 11-3, 17-15, 11-5).
SOURCE: TTFI
