The mixed doubles pair of Soumyajit Ghosh and Mouma Das
added a silver on Thursdayto the two—silver (men) and bronze
(women)—already won in team events and added a bronze today in the mixed
doubles where.
Ghosh and Mouma lost 3-11, 13-15, 7-11 to the Singaporean
pair of Zhan Jian and Zhou Yihan. They had earlier beaten another
Singaporean duo Yang Zi and Yu Mengyu, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10 to enter the
semifinals. In a fast-paced final, the Indians struggled to find their feet
before surrendering to the guiles of Zhan and Zhou.
Thus, the hosts went past the tally seven—one gold (men’s
doubles), two sliver and four bronze medals —they won at Glasgow championships in 2009 to rewrite the
record in a most befitting manner.
As of now, the Indians are assured of two medals in women’s
doubles, two in women’s singles and one in men’s doubles, and one in men’s
singles.
After the exit of Jubin Kumar and Anthony Amalraj, the
entire focus shifted to the quarterfinal match between Achanta Sharath Kamal
and Singapore ’s
Yang Zi. The way Sharath began against Yang, it seemed to be a one-sided affair
until the Singaporean began attacking from both flanks to catch the Indian on
the wrong foot.
Taking the next two games with sheer grit and power, Yang
took the match to the decider. Sharath began well and surged into 6-4 lead, but
the Singaporean made a strong come back to level the score at 6-6, then 8-8 to
give some really worry to the lone Indian in fray. But Sharath, egged on by the
crowd, sent down a scorching forehand to go 9-8 up and then he retrieved an
intricate return from his opponent to go 10-8 which upped his confidence. With
the serve returning to Yang, he was already on the back foot and Sharath’s
superb forehand return had no answer from his rival.
Sharath, speaking after the match, admitted that he was not
prepared for the sudden attacking game by his opponent. “After the first two
easy games, he started attacking and I was put down by his strategy. But I must
give credit to him that he was able to return and kill with full power even
when I tried to keep the ball short. I am happy I played okay today but he
managed to get some crucial points off me. That was a bother,” he said.
Defending men’s doubles champions Sharath Kamal and Subhajit
Saha were also through to the semifinals. The pair defeated the Nigerian
duo of Onaolapo Ojo and Omotavo Olajide 3-0. The Indians will take on the
English pair of Christopher Doran and Saumuel Walker, who beat Singapore ’s Li
Hu and Ma Liang 3-2, in the semifinals tomorrow morning.
On the penultimate day, India had several positives. To
begin with, Soumyajit Ghosh and Mouma Das made the mixed doubles
final. Indeed, the pair’s performance in the morning was so good that it
rubbed on the other Indians who followed it up with sterling showing in the
afternoon. Mouma Das, in particular, came up with fine display, entering the
women’s singles and doubles semifinals, to add to her personal medal count
after having helped the team to a bronze medal on Wednesday. In fact, the
championships have proved to be a happy one for the 29-year-old.
Mouma defeated England’s Joanna Parker 3-1 in the women’s
singles and before that she combined with K. Shamini to go past Malaysian duo
or Lee Wei Beh and Sock Khim NG 3-1 (11-3, 10-12, 11-7, 11-7) while the Neha
Aggarwala-Madhurika Patkar pair sent compatriots Divya Deshpande and Pooja
Sahasrabudhe packing with straight games win (12-10, 11-4, 11-3). Earlier,
Neha and Madhurika also won their respective quarterfinals.
A TTFI Press release
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