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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Deve Gowda hints at NDA tie-up for local body, Panchayat polls
Bengaluru: JD(S) supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda has indicated that the party is open to an understanding with the NDA in the upcoming local body, taluk and zilla panchayat elections.
Speaking to reporters at J.P. Bhavan on Wednesday, he said the JD(S) is a regional party, while the BJP is a national party. “We have to wait and see what decision they take regarding a pre-poll alliance. As far as local body elections are concerned, we will discuss the matter together before taking a decision,” he said.
Responding to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s allegation that the JD(S) does not give positions to anyone outside the family, Deve Gowda said the charge has no substance. “My memory is still strong. I will respond to everything at the appropriate time,” he remarked.
He also said that a JD(S) convention will be held in Vijayapura on February 27 and that he has been invited to participate in the event.
