CWG 2022: India wins gold in the Men’s team Table-Tennis final defeating Singapore
Birmingham, Aug 2: Harmeet Desai raised his game in the decisive singles as the Indian men's table tennis team retained its Commonwealth Games gold medal after a close fight against Singapore here on Tuesday.
World no. 121 Harmeet outsmarted 133rd-ranked Zhe Yu Clarence Chew 11-8, 11-5, 11-6 in the third singles to ensure India's third gold men's team medal in CWG history.
The gold was India's seventh since the sport's inception in Manchester 2002
India were expected to beat Singapore but Clarence accounted for veteran Sharath Kamal in the first singles to level the match at 1-1.
Harmeet and Sathiyan had little difficulty in getting past Yong Izaak Que and Ye En Koen Pang in the opening doubles.
Sathiyan had given India a 2-1 lead with a 12-10, 7-11, 11-7, 11-4 victory over lower-ranked Pang.
The stand-out performance came from India's third player, Harmeet.
Sharath had struggled to contain Clarence but Harmeet went on the offensive against the left-hander and ensured that he did not get room to go for his powerful forehand winners. Harmeet's backhand was also on fire as he won majority of the long rallies.
In the first singles, Sharath went down 7-11, 14-12, 3-11,9-11 against Clarence.
Whenever, the Indian placed the ball deep on Clarence's forehand, the return was a winner.
Two net chords helped Sharath in the second game but Clarence comfortably won the next two.
India had beaten a stronger opponent in Nigeria on Monday with Sharath stunning world number 15 Aruna Quadri. But his loss against a much lower ranked opponent on Tuesday showed rankings did not matter much in a multi sporting event.
India had won the team gold for the first in Melbourne 2006 before repeating the feat in Gold Coast four years ago.
It was also Sharath's 10th medal in the Games history and he is set to add more with singles and doubles events to follow.
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Four arrested for pre-Christmas vandalism in Assam school
Guwahati (PTI): Four people associated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal were arrested for vandalising decorative items used for Christmas celebrations at a school and damaging festive articles in shops in Assam’s Nalbari district, police said.
The arrests were made on Thursday, a senior officer said.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma hailed the police personnel for their prompt action and asserted that his government was committed to "maintaining peace, communal harmony, and ensuring the safety of all institutions and citizens across the state".
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The incident took place on Wednesday when the accused allegedly entered St Mary’s School in Panigaon village under the Belsor police station limits and burnt and damaged decorative items meant for Christmas celebrations.
"Miscreants who vandalised the school have been arrested. They entered the premises unlawfully," the officer said.
He added that the accused vandalised outer decorations, lights, plant pots, and other articles, as well as set some items on fire, resulting in loss of property.
"In connection with the vandalism at St. Mary’s English School, Panigaon, under Belsor Police Station, Nalbari district, the miscreants involved have been arrested. Assam Police acted promptly, and further action will be taken strictly as per law. We are fully committed to maintaining peace, communal harmony, and ensuring the safety of all institutions and citizens across the state," the CM said on X.
"A case has been registered at Belsor police station. Further investigation is going on. We are trying to identify some more people who were involved," the officer said.
The arrested persons are VHP Nalbari district secretary Bhaskar Deka, parishad's district vice-president Manash Jyoti Patgiri and assistant secretary Biju Dutta, along with Bajrang Dal's district convenor Nayan Talukdar, he added.
They had raised 'Jai Shree Ram' slogans and warned the school authorities not to organise Christmas celebrations on the school premises on Thursday, the officer said.
The accused also went to various shops selling Christmas goods in Nalbari town and set fire to some items near the Jain Mandir.
They also entered several shopping malls and business establishments selling Christmas items and burnt the goods, he added.
