CWG 2022: Golden Finish for Sharath Kamal-Sreeja Akula Duo in TT Mixed Doubles
The Indian duo overcame Malaysia's Javen Choong and Karen Lyne 4-11, 11-9, 5-11, 6-11 in the gold medal match.
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Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula bagged a gold medal for India in table tennis after emerging winners in the mixed doubles final against Malaysia’s Javen Choong and Karen Lyne at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Sunday.
The Indian duo overcame the Malaysian pair 4-11, 11-9, 5-11, 6-11 in the gold medal match.
Earlier, Sharath Kamal defied age and produced a class act to reach the men's singles final.
The 40-year-old paddler, who won a bronze medal in the last edition in Gold Coast, defeated home country's Paul Drinkhall 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8 to reach his second CWG final.
By reaching the final, Sharath has already assured himself of a silver and has increased his CWG medal count to 13.
However, India suffered a setback as G Sathiyan, country's highest-ranked paddler in men’s singles lost his semi-final match 5-11, 11-4, 8-11, 9-11, 9-11 to England’s Liam Pitchford.
Sathiyan will next face Pitchford’s countrymate and doubles partner Paul Drinkhall for a bronze medal match at 3:35pm IST on Monday.
Earlier in the day, the seasoned pair of Sharath and Sathiyan was outsmarted by familiar foes Drinkhall and Pitchford of England in the men's doubles final.
The Indian duo had to settle for silver for the second successive edition after losing 11-8, 8-11, 3-11, 11-7, 4-11 to the English combine.
The Indian contingent has been getting tons of support from the crowd here but at the NEC table tennis arena on Sunday, English fans outnumbered the Indians.
With very little separating the two pairs, the Indians began well with Sathiyan hitting a crisp forehand winner to go 1-0 up in the gold medal match.
Drinkhall and Pitchford fought back in the second game. A down the line backhand from Pitchford made it 5-1 for England. The Indians were having a tough time retrieving the serve with their opponents mixing things up.
Sharath's returns from the backhand were yielding mixed results. Pitchford's cross court winner after a long rally gave England a 7-5 lead before, they levelled the tie.
The English pair ran away with the third game which had the best rally of the match which Indians won after trading a series of booming forehands far away from the table.
The Indians were able to take the final to the decider after course correction in the fourth game.
However, Drinkhall and Pitchford took a huge six-point lead from 4-4 to gain six gold medal points in the fifth game. They converted the very first one drawing a huge roar from the crowd. The Indian pair shook hand with its opponents who once again proved better on the day.
Meanwhile, India's Sreeja Akula suffered a heartbreaking loss at the Commonwealth Games as she went down to Australia's Yangzi Liu 3-4 in a close bronze medal play-off.
Sreeja went down 11-3, 6-11, 2-11, 11-7, 13-15, 11-9, 7-11 after staging a slew of comebacks in a match that lasted more than one and a half hour.
(With inputs from PTI)
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