India’s men and women paddlers continued their unbeaten run to sail into the semifinals by topping their respective groups in the Super Eights of the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship here on Thursday.
Taking into consideration Wednesday’s medal rounds and the individual events to follow, both teams gave an opportunity to each of the five players in the squad. Despite rotating players, the teams didn’t drop a match on Thursday. The men sailed past Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Wales with an identical scoreline of 3-0.
Similarly, the women too rotated players and maintained a clean slate against Wales, Malaysia and Nigeria. Manika Batra and Madhurika Patkar both survived scares against Malaysia but maintained their composure in the deciding game against the contrasting styles of Ho Ying and Chang Alice Li Sian.
Important results: Super Eights: Men: India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (A. Amalraj bt Krishan Wickramarathna 11-5, 11-6, 11-3; G. Sathiyan bt Nirmala Jayasinghe 11-5, 11-3, 11-4; Manav Thakkar bt Milinda Lakshitha 8-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-1); India bt Malaysia 3-0 (Amalraj bt Feng Chee Leong 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-8; Sharath Kamal bt M.A.H. Muhamad Rizal 11-9, 11-8, 11-6; Harmeet Desai bt Qi Shen Wong 11-2, 11-4, 11-4); India bt Wales 3-0 (Thakkar bt Dean Cundy 11-9, 11-6, 11-3; Desai bt Callum Evans 11-9, 11-7, 11-5; Amalraj bt Benedict Watson 11-5, 11-6, 11-5).
Women: India bt Wales 3-0 (Madhurika Patkar bt Charlotte Carey 5-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8; Archana Kamath bt Beth Richards 11-8, 11-6, 11-7; Ayhika Mukherjee bt Lara Whitton 11-3, 11-8, 11-7); Nigeria bt Malaysia 3-1; India bt Malaysia 3-0 (Archana bt Tee Ai Xin 11-6, 12-10, 11-6; Manika Batra bt Ho Ying 13-11, 8-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9; Madhurika bt Chang Alice Li Sian 11-8, 8-11, 11-2, 6-11, 11-5); India bt Nigeria 3-0 (Archana bt Offiong Edem 6-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-8; Manika bt Ajoke Ojomu 11-4,1-3, 11-4; Sutirtha Mukherjee bt Cecilia Akan 11-4, 11-8, 11-8).
Semifinal line-up: Women: India vs Singapore, England vs Nigeria.
Singles seedings: Men: G. Sathiyan, Sharath Kamal, Samuel Walker (Eng), Hu Heming (Aus), Amalraj, Desai, Olajide Omotoyo (Ngr), Thakkar.
Women: Manika, Ho Tin-Tin (Eng), Madhurika, Charlotte Carey (Wal), Archana, Ho Ying (Mas), Melissa Tapper (Aus), Michelle Bromley (Aus).
