By Bharat Sharma, IANS,
New Delhi : Favourites Singapore defeated a sticky England 3-1 in the men’s table tennis team final of the Commonwealth Games to take the gold while Indian men salvaged a bronze beating Nigeria 3-0 in the third place play-off here Saturday.
The final started with a major upset in the discipline – English player Liam Pitchord, a teenager and ranked 292 , stunned world no 17 Gao Ning 4-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 13-11.
Paul Drinkhall, who single handedly took his team to victory against India late Friday, could not repeat the magic and lost to world no 64 Yang Zi 11-9, 7-11, 9-11, 1-11.
The possibility of the English upsetting the strong Singapore dipped when its third player Andrew Baggaley lost to higher-ranked Ma Liang 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 7-11.
The onus was on Paul now to draw level and keep the title hopes alive but he could not replicate the 17-year-old Liam’s feat and lost 11-9, 9-11, 1-11, 7-11 to Gao Ning.
With the win the top-seed Singapore made a clean sweep of the both the gold medals at stake in the team event.
Earlier in the day, India had little time to recover from Friday night’s painful loss to England but came up with a convincing win over the gritty Nigerians at the Yamuna Sports Complex.
World No.40 Sharath Kamal registered a comfortable 11-7, 11-4, 11-3 victory over Aruna Akinade Quadri in the first match. Anthony Amalraj, who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory Friday, beat Monday Merotohun 11-4, 11-7, 11-4 to give India a 2-0 lead.
Defender Abhishek Ravichandran got the opportunity to play the big match ahead of the more experienced lot and he did not disappoint one bit. He defeated Seun Ajetunmobi 14-16, 11-6, 11-8, 11-7 to seal the bronze for India.
“I am satisfied with the bronze though we should have been in the final. We lost to an impressive England unit. They played better than us,” head coach Massimo Constantini told IANS.
Amalraj rued missing out on the gold but said he was happy with the consolation bronze.
“It is good that we won against Nigeria but I am also feeling bad about my individual loss yesterday. The English players proved too strong for us. Even Sharath could not match them,” he said.