Commonwealth Table Tennis: Sreeja, Mousumi reach doubles quarters

Sreeja Akula and Mousumi Paul will now take on Zhang Wan Ling & Tan Lilin Jassy in the semifinal of the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship.

India's Moumsi Paul (left) and Seerja Akula in action at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship.

Sreeja Akula and Mousumi Paul of India survived a tense decider against Wales’ Charlotte Carey and young sensation Anna Hursey to enter the women’s doubles quarterfinal of the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Saturday.

After a tiring day for both the Indian girls that saw them featuring in three women’s qualification singles followed by two rounds in the doubles events, the Indian girls saw off the Welsh challenge 11-6, 2-11, 11-4, 4-11, 11-8 in a battle that stretched for over half an hour. Sreeja and Paul will now take on Zhang Wan Ling & Tan Lilin Jassy who stunned the third seed duo of Ho Tin-Tin and Denis Payet from England.

In the singles preliminary stage, 15 of the 22 Indian fringer paddlers qualified for the main draw. Only the two of 11 women paddlers - fancied Pooja Sahasrabudhe who finished third in her group and T. Reeth Rishya who failed to capitalise on a couple of match points in her crunch match - failed by the wayside. In the men’s singles, Sourav Saha, Anirban Ghosh, Arjun Ghosh, Jubin Kumar and Siddhesh Pande couldn’t make the cut.