Thaindian News

By Bharat Sharma
New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Ace paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal and the women’s pair of Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak won a bronze each Thursday as India ended with five medals from the table tennis competition of the Commonwealth Games here.

With the five medals, India bettered their tally at the Melbourne and Manchester editions where they had managed three medals each at both venues. But the gold count from the last edition in Melbourne, where they won two gold medals, came down as India managed just one at home.

At the Yamuna Sports Complex, defending champion Sharath Kamal beat compatriot Soumyadeep Roy 11-8, 11-5, 12-10, 11-9 in the bronze medal clash of the men’s singles.

An emotional Sharath Kamal said: “Everything was over for us so the motivation part was difficult. Playing against your own team member in an international event is never easy. When you play at home, things are different. But I am happy that I could win a bronze and a doubles gold for my country.”

The Chennai paddler more than made up for his singles semi-final loss to Yang Zi by winning the men’s doubles gold with partner Subhajit Saha Wednesday.

The pair of Mouma and Poulomi posted a comfortable 11-4, 11-7, 11-1 victory over Vivian Tan and Peri Campbell of Australia in the third place play-off.

Earlier, India had won a bronze and a silver in men and women’s team event.

The singles bronze medal tie was followed by an all Singapore gold medal match involving Gao Ning and Yang Zi.

Yang, World No.69, upset his countryman and World No.17 Gao 11-3, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 11-6 in an unexpected one-sided affair.

“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,” said Yang.

The Singapore men also won the men and women team gold in the tournament.