Indian women meet England, Singapore clash with Wales in semifinals

Surat, December 17, 2015: As anticipated, India’s women team will take on England when they completed their Group F league engagement and finished on top in Stage 2 of the 20th Avadh Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships at the Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Indoor Stadium here today.

Similarly, Singapore women topped Group E and will clash with Wales, who finished behind India in Group F after beating Cyprus 3-0, in the other semifinal. England defeated Sri Lanka to take the No. 2 position in Group E.

So far, the Indian women have had comfortable 3-0 verdicts against all their opponents in the two stages, but Singapore faltered once in stage 2 and had a 3-1 score-line against England. The Indians, playing alongside in court No. 2, must have taken note of this as they prepare to meet England in the semifinals.

For the first time in two days, India’s think-tank on the bench tried out both Ankita Das and Divya Deshpande along with the top-ranked Indian Manika Batra against Cyprus. It was a complete success story, like the earlier ones when Mouma Das and K. Shamini participated. This victory also ensured that India keep their top position intact.

Singapore, in order to try out their full bench strength, must have felt the pinch when England’s Karina Le Fevre defeated Zhang Wanling in the third singles 11-6, 11-5, 11-1. But with Zhou Yihan and Lin Ye, players with the highest world rankings here, the one rubber loss of Zhang could, at best, be described as a mere aberration.

In 7-9 positional matches, South Africa downed Trinidad & Tobago 3-1 but a clear picture about who occupies which place will emerge only after other matches get over.

Rituals completed

In men’s team event, India went through the rituals and blanked out Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka in Group F while Singapore handed out a similar 3-0 drubbing to South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago in Group F. Both India and Singapore have a group match each against Scotland and England which should be mere formalities. After that the group leaders clash in the gold medal showdown, followed by positional matches—the third and fourth placed teams getting bronze medals.

India’s men squad tried out a third mix of Soumajit Ghosh, Anthony Amalraj and G. Sathiyan in the morning against Northern Ireland, then dropped Sathiyan and brought in Harmeet Desai against Sri Lanka to give the much-needed practice. Needless to say both blends worked to the advantage of India. Amalraj in the morning dropped a game against Ashley Robinson of Northern Ireland but went steady against Lankan Chameera Ginige, winning in straight games. In comparison, Soumyajit Sathiyan and Harmeet posted easy wins over their rivals in the two matches.      

In other morning matches, Singapore had easy outings against T&T as well as South Africa in Group E, but in Group F saw Wales beating Jersey 3-1 and Cyprus upset the New Zealand applecart 3-2 in a tough match. Last night, the Lankans had inflicted a similar verdict when they beat New Zealand 3-2 in the third round.

In a marathon three-hour 20 minutes Group F match, Northern Ireland beat Scotland 3-2. Incidentally, this was the second match that went to 23 out of a possible 25 games like the one between New Zealand and Sri Lanka last night.

Though Scotland lost to Northern Ireland, if they manage to beat India 3-1 they could play Singapore in the gold medal.

Apart from the pedestrian match, the highlight was Rumgay Gavin of Scotland being warned twice for indecent behavior on court with a yellow and red card and a penalty point was also given to his opponent.  

Results: Stage II:

Men’s Team (Groups E, F & G-Round 1): Singapore bt South Africa 3-0 (Chew Zhe Yu Clarence bt Keegan Lingeveldt 11-3, 11-4, 11-2, Li Hub t Terrence Mathole 11-9, 11-3, 11-3, Chen Feng bt Kurt Lingeveldt 11-2, 11-7, 11-8), England bt T&T 3-0 (Helshan Weerasinghe bt Arun Roopnaarine 11-6, 11-3, 11-2, Tom Jarvis bt Aaron Wilson 11-3, 11-8, 11-2, David McBeath bt Yuvraaj Dookram 11-9, 11-2, 11-8; India bt Northern Ireland 3-0 (Soumyajit Ghosh bt Zak Wilson 11-5, 11-6, 11-4, Anthony Amalraj bt Ashley Robinson 11-13, 11-4, 11-7, 11-9, G. Sathiyan bt Owen Cathcart 11-5, 11-3, 11-4), Scotland bt Sri Lanka 3-1 (Craig Howieson lost to Rohan Sirisena 4-11, 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, Gavin Gumgay bt Nirmala Jayasingha 11-7, 11-2, 11-7, Calum Main bt Chameera Ginige 11-8, 11-5, 11-7, Craig Howieson bt Nirmala Jayasingha 12-14, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7, 11-1); Wales bt Jersey 3-1 (Michael Marsden bt Joshua 5-11, 11-1, 11-6, 11-8, Callum Evans lost to Jordan Wykes 11-4, 8-11, 8-11, 10-12, Chris Griffiths bt 13-15, 11-6, 12-10, 11-6, Michael Marsden bt Jordan Wykes 8-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-8), Cyprus bt New Zealand 3-2 (Hristo Hristonov lost to Matthew Ball 5-11, 11-6, 11-8, 6-11, 7-1, Marios Yiangou bt Josh Alexandre 11-6, 11-6, 11-9, Demetrios Katsouris lost to Lin Yi-Sien 10-12, 8-11, 11-13, Marios Yiangou bt Matthew Ball 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, Hristo Hristonov bt Josh Alexandre 7-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6, 14-12).

(Groups E, F & G-Round 2): Singapore bt T&T 3-0 (Chen Feng bt Yuvraaj Dookram 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, Chew Zhe Yu Clarence bt Arun Roopnarine 11-8, 11-1, 11-7, Pang Xue Jie 9-11, 11-2, 13-11, 11-1), England bt South Africa 3-0 (David McBeath bt Kurt Lingeveldt 11-8, 11-9, 11-7, Helshan Weerasinghe bt Terrence Mathole 11-4, 14-12, 11-5, Tom Jarvis bt Keegan Lingeveldt 11-3, 12-14, 9-11, 11-1, 11-5); India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Harmeet Desai bt Rohan Sirisena 11-4, 11-1, 11-5, Soumyajit Ghosh bt Jayasanka De Silva 11-6, 11-8, 11-8, Anthony Amalraj bt Chameera Ginige 11-4, 11-4, 11-4), Northern Irelnd bt Scotland 3-2 (Paul McCreery lost to Gavin Rumgay 4-11, 5-11, 14-12, 14-12, 9-11, Ashley Robinson bt Craig Howieson 9-11, 11-9, 3-11, 12-10, 11-5, Owen Catchcart bt Christopher Wheeler 7-11, 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, Ashley Robinson bt Gavin Rumgay 7-11, 4-11, 19-17, 11-8, 11-9, Paul McCreery bt Craig Howieson 11-6, 11-8, 101-2, 11-9);  Cyprus bt Jersey 3-1 (Mario Yiangou bt Jordan Wykes 11-3, 11-5, 7-11, 11-2, Hristo Hristonov bt Hugu Tupper 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, Stephanos Gregoriou bt Joshua Band 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7), Wales bt New Zealand 3-0 (Chris Griffiths bt Matthew Ball 18-16, 11-8, 11-3, Michael Marsden bt Lin Yi-Sien 8-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, Callum Evans bt Ben Collins 11-2, 13-11, 14-12).

Women’s Team (Groups E, F & G-Round 1): Singapore bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Zhou Yihan bt Erandi Warusawithana 12-10, 11-4, 8-11, 12-14, 11-5, Lin Ye bt Hansani Kapugeekiyana 11-7, 11-3, 11-3, Koh Kai Xin Pearlyn Ruvini Kannangara 11-6, 11-2, 11-6); India bt Wales 3-0 (Mouma Das bt Megan Phillips 9-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-3), Manika Batra bt Charlotte Carey 11-7, 11-8, 11-8, K. Shamini bt Chloe Thomas 11-9, 10-12, 11-4, 11-2); Northern Ireland bt South Africa 3-1 (Emma Ludlow bt Khanyisile Madlala 11-2, 9-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, Ashley Givan bt Zodwa Maphanga 11-6, 11-5, 11-7, Erin Thompson lost to Danisha Patel 11-9, 3-11, 5-11, 5-11, Ashley Givan bt Khanyisile Madlala 11-5, 12-10, 11-4).

(Groups E, F & G-Round 2): Singapore bt England 3-1 (Lin Ye bt Maria Tsaptsinos 11-8, 11-3, 11-6, Zou Yihan bt Ho Tin-Tin 11-8, 14-12, 11-7, Zhang Wanling lost to Karina Le Fevre 11-6, 11-5, 11-1, Lin Ye bt Ho Tin-Tin 11-13, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9); India bt Cyprus 3-0 (Manika Batra bt Sophia Koni 11-4, 11-4, 11-3, Ankita Das bt Louiza Kourea 11-3, 11-4, 11-8, Divya Deshpande bt Alexia Christodoulou 11-8, 11-5, 11-5); South Africa bt T&T 3-1 (Zodwa Maphanga bt Aleena Adwards 5-11, 14-12, 11-5, 9-11, 11-9, Khanyisile Madlala lost to Catherine Spicer 10-12, 7-11, 7-11, Danisha Patel bt Brittany Joseph 8-11, 11-5, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6, Khanyisile Madlala bt Allena Edwards 4-11, 11-4, 11-6, 4-11, 14-12), Wales bt Cyprus 3-0 (Charlotte Carey 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4, Chloe Thomas bt Louiza Kourea 11-5, 13-11, 8-11, 11-5, Megan Phillips bt Sophia Koni 11-7, 13-11, 11-8).

TTFI Press release