Cuttack: The Indian men’s and women’s teams booked their semifinal berths after winning their Super Eights group matches in the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here today.
The Indian women’s team defeated Wales, Malaysia and Nigeria by an identical 3-0 margin to enter the last-four from Group F of the Super Eight round.
The Indian men’s team too entered the semifinals after defeating Sri Lanka and Malaysia by 3-0 margin. The Indian male paddlers, however, have a formality to complete as they play their last Group F match against Wales.
Coaches Australian Brett Clarke and Soumyadeep Roy gave ample opportunities to all the players before the knockout semifinal and finals tomorrow. Like in men, Archana was the common factor in all the three matches while the two coaches rotated the other players, including Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee. All the players came out with flying colours against their opponents.
Besides India, England men and women, too, made the semifinal having notched up two wins each. Their men beat Singapore 3-2 while they claimed a 3-1 victory over Australia. Their women, on the other hand, beat Australia 3-1 and then trounced Sri Lanka 3-0.
With two slots left in each of the two sections, the teams that look to book their berths are Singapore and Nigeria, barring a problem or two in the last match.
The results (Super Eights):
Men: Group E: England bt Singapore 3-2; Nigeria bt Australia 3-1; England bt Australia 3-1; Singapore bt Nigeria 3-0;
Group F: 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, 12-10, 11-1); Malaysia bt Wales 3-0; India bt Malaysia 3-0 (A. Amalraj bt Feng Chee Leong 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-8; A. 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); Wales bt Sri Lanka 3-1.
Women: Group E: Singapore bt Sri Lanka 3-0; England bt Australia 3-1; England bt Singapore 3-1; Australia bt Sri Lanka 3-0; England bt Sri Lanka 3-0.
Group F: 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 Kamath 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 Patkar bt Chang Alice Li Sian 11-8, 8-11, 11-2, 6-11, 11-5); Nigeria bt Wales 3-2; India bt Nigeria 3-0 (Archana Kamath bt Offiong Edem 6-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-8; Manika Batra bt Ajoke N. Ojomu 11-4,1-3, 11-4; Sutirtha Mukherjee bt Cecilia Akan 11-4, 11-8, 11-8).
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