NEW DELHI: India stamped its authority on the penultimate day of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, with all eight paddlers storming into the men’s and women’s singles semifinals at the Thyagaraj Stadium here Saturday.
The women completed a clean sweep to set up an all-Indian semifinal lineup, while the men also occupied all four semifinal spots after overcoming stiff overseas and domestic challenges.
Top seed Manush Shah was stretched to six games by Australia’s Aditya Sareen before prevailing 11-6, 11-8, 2-11, 1315, 11-8, 11-5. Payas Jain emerged victorious in the standout all-Indian quarterfinal, edging Harmeet Desai 8-11, 12-10, 12-14, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9 in a gripping six-game contest.
Ankur Bhattacharjee fought back twice to defeat Australia’s Nicholas Wen Zheng Lum 7-11, 15-13, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9, while Manav Thakkar recovered from a slow start to beat England’s Connor Alexander Green 5-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-8, 11-6. Earlier, the Indian women ensured themselves four medals by sweeping the quarterfinals.
Syndrela Das produced the biggest upset of the day, rallying from a game down to eliminate top-seeded Australian Yangzi Liu.