National Table Tennis Championship | Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra win 3-1 to clinch gold

His experience and Batra’s raw talent helped India clinch the bronze medal in Jakarta last year and after setting the tone in the team final event on Sunday, Sharath repeated it again on Tuesday against Manav and Archana. After the second-seeded pair managed an early 1-0 lead by dominating through the serves in the first game, their complacency allowed the top seeds to equalize.

However, just when Manav and Archana looked to be in complete control leading 0-5, Sharath and Manika levelled the game before going 6-5, 9-7 up. Their opponents weren’t giving up so easily and came back to take the game 12-10. In the fourth one, Manav and Archana came back again by levelling the scoreline at 3-3 and 6-6. However, this time Sharath and Manika finished on top by taking five consecutive points.

For the women's category, fourth-seeded Divya Deshpande went down against Anusha Kutambale of Madhya Pradesh 4-1 (11-6, 4-11, 8-11, 6-11, 10-12) in the second round, while Pooja Sahasrabudhe lost 2-4 to current Youth champion Shruti Amrute from Maharashtra. Indian stalwarts Anindita Chakraborty, Mouma Das, and Poulomi Ghatak were also shockingly eliminated. Former national champion K. Shamini, however, made it to the pre-quarterfinals.