India men's Table Tennis team has defended the title at Birmingham Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 after beating Singapore by 3-1. The gold in table tennis on Day 5 takes India's gold tally at the games to five.
First Harmeet Desai and G Sathiyan beat Quek Yong Izaac and Pang Yew En Koen in straight games (3-0). Achanta Sharath kamal had to face defeat against Clarence Chew (1-3). G Sathiyan then played against Pang again to win 3-1 and give India the lead. Then, Harmeet Desai registered a comfortable 3-0 win against Chew to help India win second gold of the day.
The gold was India's seventh since the sport's inception in Manchester 2002 India were expected to beat Singapore but Clarence accounted for veteran Sharath Kamal in the first singles to level the match at 1-1.
Harmeet and Sathiyan had little difficulty in getting past Yong Izaak Que and Ye En Koen Pang in the opening doubles.
Sathiyan had given India a 2-1 lead with a 12-10, 7-11, 11-7, 11-4 victory over lower-ranked Pang.
The stand-out performance came from India's third player, Harmeet.
Sharath had struggled to contain Clarence but Harmeet went on the offensive against the left-hander and ensured that he did not get room to go for his powerful forehand winners. Harmeet's backhand was also on fire as he won majority of the long rallies.
In the first singles, Sharath went down 7-11, 14-12, 3-11,9-11 against Clarence.
Whenever, the Indian placed the ball deep on Clarence's forehand, the return was a winner.
Two net chords helped Sharath in the second game but Clarence comfortably won the next two.
