Paddlers give India first gold medals at Lusofonia Games

Goa, January 20, 2014: India’s first gold medals in the third Lusofonia Games came via table tennis when the country’s men and women paddlers kept their top billing intact in the five-team pool events, keeping their slate clean all through. Portugal, despite putting up a good fight against India, had to be content with the silver. Neighbours Sri Lanka took bronze in the men’s section.

Indian men defeated Portugal 3-1 in an intensive battle while their women just ran through their European opponents 3-0 in what was a one-sided affair to claim the team gold medals in both the sections. Sri Lanka claimed the silver while the bronze medal went to Macau in the women’s fare.

In fact, it was the Indian women paddlers who gave the country their maiden gold medal, incidentally the first ever in table tennis at the Games so far. They were followed by the Indian men who, to start with, were in a bit of a tangle after Soumyajit Ghosh lost his singles to southpaw Diogo Silva. But what gave India the advantage was the game between Anthony Amal Raj, who defeated another left-handed Jorge after being 0-2 down.

Amal Raj played a great game, attacking on both flanks despite having lost the first two games to Costa. In the second game, Amal Raj was down 0-9 but picked up his so well that he scored seven straight points to lose the game at 7-11. But that gave him the confidence and momentum that he not only went on to equal but also win the next three to give India 2-0 lead.  

Before that, in the second game with Amal Raj leading 3-0 there was a controversy with the Sri Lankan umpire Mohammad Nasser showing the red card to a Portugal player for illegal advice despite being warned with a yellow card earlier. The technical bench ruled the erring player to be sent off the bench which the Portugal team protested. However, the technical bench ruled that the player can return only if he needed to play the match.

After things had cooled down, Amal Raj with a cushion of 3-0 lead but lost the game. He, however, never lost the focus as he came back nicely to set things in motion. In the fourth game, Soumyajit Ghosh defeated Andre Silva 3-1 (7-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-6) to put the issue beyond Portugal’s issue. Earlier, Harmeet Desai came back well against Andre Silva to give India 1-0 lead.

As for the Indian women, it was totally a one-sided issue with K. Shamini accounting for Joana Mota 3-1, Anikita Das then beating Raquel Andrade 3-0 and Madhurika Patkar completing the formality with a 3-0 win over Joana Fins.    

Results: (5th round):

INDIA  beat  PORTUGAL (3 - 1)                  

DESAI HarmeetbeatSILVA Andre                                              3 - 1        (11-9,  11-7,  7-11,  11-9)               

GHOSH Soumyajitlost toSILVA Diogo                                       2 - 3        (8-11,  11-7,  11-9,  4-11,  7-11)   

ANTHONY  Amalraj beat COSTA Jorge                                     3 - 2        (8-11,  10-12,  11-3,  11-6,  11-6) 

GHOSH Soumyajit beat SILVA Andre                                       3 - 1        (7-11,  11-5,  12-10,  11-6)

INDIA  beat PORTUGAL (3 - 0)                   

KUMARESAN Shamini beat MOTA Joana                               3 - 1        (11-7,  11-5,  9-11,  13-11)             

DAS Ankita beat ANDRADE Raquel                                           3 - 0        (11-8,  11-8,  11-7)           

PATKAR Madhurika beat FINS Joana                                       3 - 0        (11-8,  11-5,  11-5)