A. Sharath Kamal won the bronze medal, beating England’s Samuel Walker 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10 here on Sunday.
After the heartbreaking loss against Aruna Quadri (Nigeria) in the semifinals on Saturday night, this was a fair compensation for the most experienced player in the Indian side. Sharath had won gold on his debut Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006.
Against Walker, Sharath produced an array of shots that caught the Englishman napping. He took the first two games 11-7, 11-9, but Walker regrouped and put the Indian on the backfoot. Walker took the third 9-11.
However, the 35-year-old Indian found his touch and did not cede ground for the Englishman. He took the fourth 11-6 before digging deep to claim the fifth 12-10.
Earlier in the day, the all-Indian loser’s final in mixed doubles turned out to be a one-sided affair. G. Sathiyan and Manika Batra defeated Sharath and Mouma Das in straight games 11-6, 11-2, 11-4.
India finished its campaign in this discipline on top of the medal tally with three gold, two silver and three bronze medals.
