Glasgow, Aug 2 (IANS) Veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal and Anthony Amalraj picked up the silver medal in the men’s doubles table tennis after they lost 1-3 to Singapore’s Hu Li and Ning Gao in the title clash of the 2014 Commonwealth Games here Friday.
Sharath, three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, and Amalraj lost 111-8, 7-11, 9-11, 5-11 in 33 minutes to the Singaporean pair at the Scotstoun Sports Campus. It was the first medal for India from the sport in the 2014 Games.
The Indians started off well by winning the first game but performed badly in the second as Singapore raced away to a 11-7 win in just six minutes. The third game turned out to be a close affair that India lost 9-11. Singapore proved their supremacy in the fourth game winning it 5-11 with ease.
Interestingly, both Sharath and Gao had faced each other in the men’s doubles 2010 final, which the Indian had won with Subhajit Saha in Delhi, with different partners.
Another Singapore pair, Zi Yang and Jian Zhan won the bronze medal after they won the play-off match against England. Zi and Jian beat English pair Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford 6-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8 and 10-12.
To start with, Sharath and Anthony Amalraj earned a facile 11-7, 12-10, 11-3 win over Singapore’s Zi Yang and Jian Zhan in the semi-finals to enter the men’s doubles final.
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 Drinkhall to enter the men’s singles semis.
The 2006 Melbourne 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.