India’s stranglehold on table tennis remained as firm as ever in the 12th South Asian Games. The country’s men’s and women’s paddlers proved their superiority by clinching the gold medal in the team finals with resounding 3-0 victories over Sri Lanka and Pakistan respectively at the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex here on Sunday.
Indian men blanked Sri Lanka 3-0 while their women counterparts drubbed Pakistan 3-0.
Participating in the final for the first time since the ’04 SAG, the Pakistan women were content being in the summit clash knowing pretty well it was beyond them to even think of scripting a win.
“We were happy to be in the final. Beating Sri Lanka in the semi-finals 3-2 and the fifth match going to the wire, was enough for us. Actually that was a final for us,” said Ayesha Ansari of Pakistan.
The men’s final wasn’t as one-sided as the women’s. Sri Lanka’s 17-year-old National champion Udaya Ranasinghe troubled his Indian counterpart Amalraj in the first match even pocketing the first game, before Amalraj found his groove.
After Sathyan clinically dismantled Rohan Sirisena in three straight games, Sanil Shetty closed out the tie with a 3-1 win over Nirmala Jayasinghe.
India continues domination in archery
India continued its domination in archery in the recurve and compound men, women & mixed team events, by reaching the finals of all six events.
India almost lost the plot in mixed recurve. Taking on a young Sri Lankan pair of Dilhara Salgado and Nipuna Senevirathne, the top-ranked team of Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai had to dig deep to win 5-4. With the teams tied at 4-4, India shot a ‘9’ and an ‘8’ while Sri Lanka came up with a ‘9’ & only a ‘6’, to emerge triumphant in the shoot-out.
Results
Table tennis: Men (Final): India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (A. Amalraj bt Udaya Ranasinghe 11-9, 13-11, 6-11, 11-8; G. Sathiyan bt Rohan Sirisena 11-3, 11-3, 11-3; Sanil Shetty bt Nirmala Jayasinghe 8-11, 11-3, 11-7, 13-11; Women (Final): India bt Pakistan 3-0 (Manika Batra bt Raheela Kashif 11-2, 11-6, 11-6; Mouma Das bt Shabnam Bilai 11-7, 11-4, 11-4; K. Shamini bt Ayesha Ansari 11-3, 11-3, 11-7; Semifinals: Pakistan bt Sri Lanka 3-2; India bt Bangladesh 3-0.
Archery: (Semi-finals): Compound: Men: India bt Nepal 233-215; Bhutan bt Bangladesh 223-214; Women: India (bye) to final; Bangladesh bt Sri Lanka 223-208; Mixed: India (bye); Bangladesh bt Sri Lanka 138-133;
Recurve: Men: India bt Bhutan 5-1; Sri Lanka bt Bangladesh 5-1; Women: Ind bt Bhutan 6-0; Sri Lanka bt Bangladesh 5-1; Mixed: India bt Sri Lanka 5-4; Bangladesh bt Bhutan 6-2; Badminton: Group A: Women: India bt Nepal 3-0; India bt Afghanistan 3-0.
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