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Veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal remained India’s brightest table tennis star among all others as he led from the front to come out on top in both singles and doubles categories at the Commowealth Games yesterday. |
In the women’s boxing Light weight, former World Champion Laishram Sarita Devii assured India a silver after she beat Maria Machongua of Mozambique in the semifinal.
Earlier, Pinki Jangra had lost her semifinal bout to settle for the bronze medal at the SECC Hall.
To start with, Sharath and Anthony Amalraj earned a facile 11-7, 12-10, 11-3 win over Singapore’s Zi Yang and Jian Khan in the semi-finals to enter the men’s doubles final at the Scotstoun Sports Campus. With the win, the pair have at least assured India another silver from the Games. They will take on another Singaporean pair Ning Gao and Hu Li later in the day for the gold. Interestingly, it will be a half-repeat of the final four years ago as Sharath, who won the gold with Subhajit Saha in Delhi, will once again face Gao, who took the silver with Yang Zi.
Later, the 32-year-old Sharath recorded an easy 11-5, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 win over Nigeria’s Segun Toriola in the Round of 16 followed by a 11-7, 11-6, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6 quarter-final win over England’s Paul Drinkhall to enter the men’s singles semis.
The 2006 edition champion won the bronze four years ago in the category and will be eyeing another medal this time around when he takes on Zhan Saturday. However, it was the end of the road for other Indian paddlers.
Though India’s rising star Soumyajit Ghosh defeated Li 11-5, 2-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 in the Round of 16, he later went down to England’s Liam Pitchford 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 9-11 in the men’s singles quarters. Earlier, Harmeet Desai also lost his men’s singles Round of 16 to Zhan 12-14, 6-11, 10-12, 11-13. In women’s doubles, Shamini Kumaresan and Madhurika Patkar overcame Australians Zhenhua Dederko and Ziyu Zhang 3-2 in the Round of 16 but went down 10-12, 10-12, 11-8, 2-11 in the last eight clash to England’s Joanna Drinkhall and Kelly Sibley. Ankita Das and Paulomi Ghatak also lost their last 16 match to Malaysia’s Lee Wei Beh and Soch Khim 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 4-11.
Shuttlers Sindhu, Kashyap enter semis
Leading Indian shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and P. V. Sindhu entered the semi-finals in their respective categories at the Emirates Arena.
In the absence of top seed Saina Nehwal, No.2 seed Sindhu routed New Zealand’s Anna Rankin in straight games in the women’s singles quarter-finals to enter the last four in her first appearance at the games.
World No.11 Sindhu notched up a comfortable 21-10, 21-9 win in 24 minutes and will take on Canadian fourth seed Michelle Li in the semis.
Earlier, men’s singles second seed Kashyap also had an easy 21-13, 21-14 victory in 38 minutes to proceed to the semis. The World No.22 had clinched the bronze four years ago in New Delhi.
Indians bow out of squash quarters
Indian squash pairs Saurav Ghosal-Dipika Pallikal and Harinder Pal Sandhu-Joshana Chinappa lost their respective mixed doubles quarterfinals at the Scotstoun Sports Campus.
Sandhu and Chinappa won the first game 11-7 but went on to lose the second 8-11 to New Zealand pair Martin Knight and Joelle King. Knight and King were more dominant in the last game, taking the decider 11-6 to proceed to the semi-finals.
Later, Ghosal and Pallikal lost their last eight clash in straight games to Australian duo David Palmer and Rachael Grinham 6-11, 9-11. Pallikal and Chinappa were to play the women’s doubles semi-final later in the night.
Meanwhile, India narrowly missed on a medal in lawn bowls losing out to Australia in the men’s fours bronze medal play-off match at the Kelvingronve Lawn Bowls centre. India went down 14-15 to Australia. The gold was clinched by hosts Scotland, who defeated England 16-8. The Indian women’s hockey team defeated hosts Scotland 2-1 in the 5-6 position classification match to end fifth. The Indian men play New Zealand in the semis today.
Artistic gymnast Ashish Kumar finished eighth and last in the men’s vault final. Canada’s Scott Morgan won the gold with an average score of 14.733, England’s Kristian Thomas took home the silver with 14.499 while Singapore’s Wah Toon Hoe clinched the bronze with 14.195 at the SSE Hydro. Ashish, however, had the lowest average score of 7.166. The Indian was looking good for the bronze after his first attempt with a Vault 1 score of 14.333. However, the 23-year-old ran and jumped on Vault 2 but fell flat for which he earned no points. Ashish is the first Indian to win medals in the discipline at the Commonwealth Games when he clinched the men’s floor bronze and the men’s vault silver four years ago in New Delhi.
