Indian men defeat England to claim Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship

In the gold medal fight, the first game proved to be a roller-coaster ride eventually ending with Harmeet Desai going down 2-3 to England’s David McBeath after leading 2-0 in the initial stages. But Soumyajit Ghosh and G. Sathiyan won their respective games to take India to a 2-1 lead.

Ghosh finished off the contest in the reverse singles by defeating David McBeath 4-0 to gift India their second title in 20 editions of the championship. India’s last title at the championship came in 2004 in Malaysia under Sharath Kamal, who also won the individual gold. Sharath missed out on this year’s championship after suffering a freak accident in Germany before the championship.

In the women’s team championship, Indian eves were no match for the superior Singapore team with only Mouma Das managing to register a victory for the Indians. This is the fourth silver medal for the women’s team in 20 editions, having won silver in 1975, 1983 and 1991.

Brief Scores:

Men’s Team: Gold Medal match: India 3-1 England

1. Harmeet Desai 2-3 David McBeath (11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, 9-11)

2. Soumyajit Ghosh 3-0 Helshan Weerasinghe (11-7, 11-4, 11-7)

3. G. Sathiyan 3-0 Tom Jarvis (11-3, 11-6, 11-5)

4. Soumyajit Ghosh 4-0 David McBeath (11-6, 11-3, 11-9, 11-8)

Women’s Team: Gold Medal match: Singapore 3-1 India

1. Lin Ye 3-1 Ankita Das (9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8)

2. Zhou Yihan 3-1 Manika Batra (11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9)

3. Koh Kai Xin 0-3 Mouma Das (8-11, 7-11, 5-11)

4. Lin Ye 3-0 Manika Batra (11-8, 11-3, 11-6)