Indian paddlers dominate at Commonwealth Championships, win gold in all categories
India put on a show in the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships to win all the gold medals on offer and ended the tournament with a huge lead at the top of the table. All five finals in Cuttack on Monday consisted of Indians, with the country having already secured two gold medals a day before.
For the first time in the 44 years since England achieved the feat in 1975, a country has clean swept the tournament and won all the gold medals on offer at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships.
Favourites for the men’s singles title G Sathiyan suffered a shock defeat as he went down fighting to compatriot Harmeet Desai. Having started the match on the front foot and having won the first two games, Sathiyan let his lead slip in what was a stunning comeback by his opponent and finally succumbed 3-4 to Desai’s challenge (11-9, 11-6, 5-11, 8-11, 15-17, 11-7, 9-11).
A few hours earlier, Sathiyan had already lost a final, again being upset by the underdogs. His pairing with Sharath Kamal though given the top seed status, could not stand up to Anthony Amalraj and Manav Thakkar’s prowess. The two took just four games to claim the gold medal, winning the match 3-1 (8-11, 11-6, 13-11, 12-10).
In the women’s singles category, former national champion Madhurika Patkar was thwarted in straight games by Ayhika Mukhherjee en route to the latter’s first gold medal at the Games. Having triumphed against England’s Ho Tin-Tin in the penultimate round, Mukherjee recorded a 11-4, 11-6, 11-9, 19-17 in the final.
Pooja Sahasrabudhe and Krittwika Sinha Roy won the women’s double category, seeing out Sreeja Akula and Mousumi Paul’s challenge and emerging victorious with a score of 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10).
Sathiyan and Archana Kamath earlier in the day meant the record showing by the country in the Championships was complete. Not only they had won all the gold medals after having won the men’s and women’s team events the previous day, they also claimed all the possible silver medals for themselves. However, curiously no Indian player could win more than one gold medal in the five finals on Monday.
England finished in the second spot, (2 silver, 3 bronze) followed by Singapore (6 bronze). Malaysia and Nigeria were tied in the fourth spot with a bronze medal each.
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