Commonwealth TT: Perfect start for India in team events

CUTTACK: India got off to a rousing start in the team events of the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium as the women’s team eked out two comfortable wins to progress to the second round, here on Wednesday.

First up in Round I, the Indian eves kicked off their Group B proceedings thumping Sri Lanka 3-0. While world No. 56 Manika Batra^[2] broke little sweat in her 11-5, 11-4, 11-5 win over Sri Lanka’s Bimandi Bandara, Archana Kamath^[3] eased past Ishani Madurangi 11-5, 11-5, 12-10. India’s Ayhika Mukherjee^[4] lost a game but bounced back to beat Chamathsara Fernando 11-3, 11-3, 8-11, 11-4.

South Africa, too, failed to put up any resistance against the hosts despite Batra choosing to make way for Sutirtha Mukherjee, as India claimed a 3-0 win.

Kamath, the national champion, routed South Africa’s Danisha Patel 11-6, 11-2, 11-2. Such was Kamath’s commanding performance that Patel, a five-time national champion of Indian origin, could hardly produce any stroke of aggression and bowed out meekly.

Madhurika Patkar, a former senior national champion, had no problem in brushing aside South Africa’s Palesa Mtshoelibe 11-2, 11-5, 11-3. Mukherjee wasted little time as she defeated Simeen Mookrey 11-1, 11-4, 11-4 to take her team through to the next round as group topper.

The Achanta Sharath Kamal-led men’s squad matched the women’s team’s perfect start. Clubbed in Group B with Singapore and Scotland, India thrashed their European opponents 3-0 in their first encounter.
World No. 24 G Sathiyan appeared tentative in his matchup against Scotland’s Niall Cameron before managing to pull out a 11-4, 11-7, 11-8 triumph. Sharath looked in superb touch against Colin Dalgleish but did allow himself to be dragged a little in the last game. He won 11-2, 11-6, 11-9.
Scotland’s Dylan Curry could not really fight against Harmeet Desai, and bowed out tamely with a 2-11, 6-11, 1-11loss.
Singapore also qualified for the next round from Group A in women’s team event as they blanked Scotland 3-0 before defeating Wales later in the day to register an identical scoreline. In Group D, things took an interesting turn with Nigeria beating Bangladesh 3-0, then going on to lose 1-3 against England.

Uganda and Guyana, who had earlier pulled out citing failure to get clearance from their governments, have sent their entries for open events.

^[1][5]

References

1. ^{^} Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
2. ^{^} Manika Batra (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
3. ^{^} Archana Kamath (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
4. ^{^} Ayhika Mukherjee (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
5. ^{^} Niall Cameron (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

from Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Live Match Scores & Sports News Headlines, Results & more https://ift.tt/2JEE7oa