CWG table tennis: Maiden final for women, men in semis (Roundup)

NEW DELHI - The Indian women’s table tennis team Thursday reached their maiden final at the Commonwealth Games blanking fancied England in the semi-finals here Thursday and the men’s team entered the last four beating South Africa in the quarter-finals.

The women, bronze medallists at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, have assured themselves of a silver as they take on current World Champions Singapore Friday. Singapore beat Malaysia 3-0 in the other semi-final.

Reaching the event’s final at the Delhi Games is the Indian women’s best performance. They came sixth in the 2002 Manchester Games, where table tennis made its debut. Four years later they won the bronze at Melbourne.

The match with second seeded England turned out be a one-sided affair at the packed show court of the Yamuna Sports Complex as the Indian women won 3-0.

Indian chief coach Massimo Constantini praised the team for the result but singled out Shamini Kumaresan as the star of the tournament for her consistent wins against higher-ranked opponents from England and Australia.

Shamini, who was instrumental in India’s victory against Australia Wednesday, was again seen in great form as she came from one game down to beat Kelly Sibley 7-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-6 in the first singles.

Mouma Das recovered from Wednesday’s loss against Aussie Fang Jian Lay and defeated Joanna Parker 11-3, 11-8, 11-7.

Mouma, the highest ranked Indian on International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) circuit at 211, did not let defender Joanna settle down one bit and negated her spin by hitting smashes at ease.

Poulomi Ghatak comfortably beat another English defender Hannah Hicks and closed out the match.

Coach Constantini attributed India’s win to rigorous practice.

We knew England had a lot of defenders, so the girls practised specifically for them in training camps in China. I must say it has paid off, Constantini told IANS.

However, the coach rated the 3-1 victory over Australia more satisfying than the one Thursday.

The men, defending champions, defeated South Africa 3-1 in the quarter-finals with a minor hiccup as Soumyadeep Roy lost to Proteas number one Shane Overmeyer 11-4, 5-11, 11-13, 11-9, 14-12.

Roy’s sluggish movement around the table led to his downfall against the South African.

But star player Sharath Kamal came out and showed why he is the best in the country as he took little time to beat Sydney Theo Cogill 11-4, 11-7, 11-6 and then Overmeyer in the reverse singles 11-4, 11-8, 10-12, 11-4.

Third player Amalraj Anthony sealed the semi-final spot defeating Daniel Luke Abrahams 11-1,11-2,11-3 in just 15 minutes.

Indian men will face England in the semi-finals Friday.

(Bharat Sharma can be contacted at bharat.s@ians.in)

–Indo–Asian News Service