But the bigger news is that the Indians looked like
overhauling their best ever tally of nine medals, including more gold, as the
hosts have already assured themselves of medals in doubles medals in both the
sections, apart from the team gold and silver.
Soumyajit Ghosh rolled over his Scottish rival Gavin Rumgay
11-4, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10, but G. Sathiyan fell to world No. 176 Chen Feng of Singapore
11-13, 11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 11-4, 5-11. Saithiyan has to blame himself for
squandering the fourth game after a sizeable 10-7 lead which allowed Chen came
back strongly and reach the semifinals. If only he had won, it would have given
him a comfortable 3-1 lead and confidence to go over the hurdle.
Yet the Indian presence in the semifinal became evident as
in the all-India quarterfinals, Anthony Amalraj taught a lesson or two to
southpaw Abhishek Yadav, winning the match 11-4, 11-4, 11-4, 11-2 in flat 22
minutes. Abhishek, ranked way below his rival (212), could not counter the
speedy Amalraj despite possessing good strokes and went down without a murmur.
In contrast, left-handed Sanil Shetty (267) overcame local boy and
higher-ranked (155) Harmeet Desai 9-11, 4-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5.
The turnaround in the match was the fourth game where Sanil
was allowed too much leeway—Harmeet was error-prone—to steady at 2-3. The Surat boy still had his
chance coming, but Sanil mounted pressure and took the fifth in the nick of
time by a minimal points. And, in the decider, Sanil attacked right from the
word go and Harmeet wilted, surrendering meekly.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Harmeet defeated England ’s
Helshan Weerasinghe 11-13, 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 6-11, 11-6, 16-14. The Indian
saved two match-points and on his second won the crucial decider when Helshan
sent the ball out after a couple of rallies.
With two Singapore
players in the women’s quarterfinals, it was always going to be difficult for
the hosts' paddlers and that is precisely what happened with Ankita Das and K.
Shamini. Nevertheless both Mouma Das and Manika Batra assured each at least a
bronze medal. The biggest problem, however, will be their rivals in the
semifinals, the top two seeds of the championships!
No. 2 Indian Mouma had a tough time against Pooja who,
backed by a good form, took her compatriot the full distance. It looked as if
Mouma will sail through, but Pooja had the audacity to challenge the national
champion by levelling the score. In the decider, Pooja fought well to close in to
level 8-all but the attacking Mouma turned the heat on her rival to seal the
fate with a 11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 12-10m 8-11, 10-12, 11-8 verdict.
On the other hand, it was an easy going for Manika against England ’s Ho
Tin-Tin, whom the Indian had beaten in the team event. Knowing each other well
after the team matches, both treaded a cautious approach but when it mattered
Manika upped the ante to go 2-0 up. But the pen-holder grip player pulled one
down to raise the banner of a fight. However, it never happened as Manika
steadied herself and shut her out in the next two for an easy 11-6, 11-6, 2-11,
11-7, 11-2 triumph.
It was always going to be difficult for Shamini against the
world No. 46 Zhou Yihan. Shamini did well to bring down the pace of game.
However, Zhou was clever enough to change her game after being down 1-2 to
bring Shamini more miseries. The Indian could not cope with it.
Ankita started well against Lin Ye, the world No. 57, taking
the first two games to give more hope of the Indian’s advancement. The
Singaporean, who was slow to warm up, did not waste time and energy to put it
across Ankita 9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8.
The other five Indians to make it to the last eight stages
were Anthony Amalraj wbo beat Engalnd’s David McBeath 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 6-11,
11-4, 11-4, Sanil Shetty who accounted for Singapore’s Chew Zhe Yu Clarence
11-4, 11-7, 13-11, 11-7, G. Sathiyan who downed Marios Yiangou of Cyprus 11-4, 11-6, 11-9, 11-5, Soumyajit Ghosh,
who rolled over Singapore ’s
Pang Xue Jie, in straight games of 11-3, 17-15, 11-9, 11-2 and Abhishek Yadav
who got a walkover from top-seed Singaporean Li Hu. The latter withdrew citing of
ill-health.
Of the two other Indians in fray, Sudhanshu Grover went down
to Scotland’s Gavin Rumgay 11-9, 5-11, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 9-11 and Devesh Karia
lost 15-13, 9-11, 5-11,8-11, 6-11 to higher-ranked Singapore ’s Chen Feng.
In mixed doubles semifinals, the Indian pair of G. Sathiyan
and Ankita Das beat compatriots Sanil Shetty and Manika Batra 11-2, 13-11,
7-11, 11-8 to earn a gold medal meeting with the other pair, comprising
Soumyajit Ghosh and Mouma Das today evening. Both Ghosh and Mouma were scheduled
to meet the top Singaporean pair of Li Hu and Zhou Yiyan but Li withdrew owing
to ill-health, giving a walkover. The Sanil-Manika duo will be awarded the
bronze.
In the morning Singapore
TTFI Press release
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