Birmingham: Indian men’s table tennis team clinched the gold medal defeating Singapore 3-1 in the final at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Tuesday. It was another dominant performance by the Indian paddlers.
In the first match at the NEC Table Tennis Show Court 1, Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran went up against Yong Izaac Quek and Yew En Koen Pang. The Indian pair were firing on all cylinders and looked more comfortable in the second game as they took early lead and closed out the game 11-7. The Indian pair defeated their Sinapore rivals 13-11, 11-7, 11-5 in the third game to give India an early lead with overall match score of 1-0. India are the defending champions in the men’s team table tennis final.
In the second match of the final, Sharath Kamal Achanta took on Zhe Yu Clarence Chew. The first game was tough for the Indian ace as he went down 7-11 against his Singapore rival. Sharath Kamal made a strong comeback and won the second game 14-12. Singapore’s Chew won the third game 11-3 to take 2-1 lead in the match. He also won the fourth game 11-9 and the second match went in favour of Singapore 11-7, 12-14, 11-3, 11-9 to level the tie 1-1.
In the third match, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran locked horns with Yew En Koen Pang. The Indian player made a remarkable comeback and won it 12-10. In the second game of the third match, Pang beat Sathiyan 11-7 but the Indian player kept on the pressure and won the third game 11-7 and eventually the match. The scoreline 12-10, 7-11, 11-7, 11-4 reflected an amazing comeback by the Indian player.
The third match saw Harmeet Desai beat Zhe Yu Clarence Chew, who had defeated Sharath Kamal Achanta earlier. Harmeet started strongly and took the first game 11-8. He kept up the momentum and won in straight sets 11-8, 11-5, 11-6. India have so far won five gold, three silver and bronze medals in the games and are placed sixth in the medals tally.
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