CWG 2014 table tennis: Sharath Kamal, Anthony Amalraj take India to next round

Glasgow: Indian table tennis players had a decent outing in the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday with Achanta Sharath Kamal and Anthony Amalraj winning their respective mixed doubles third round matches before pairing up to win in men’s doubles as well. [caption id=“attachment_1642339” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sharath Kamal. AFP[/caption] Kamal and Shamini Kumaresan defeated Malaysian combo of Ying Ho and Chee Feng Leong 11-5 11-8 11-8 in the third round. They had spanked Uganda’s Paul Moody Mutambuze and Ludia Magandlen Natunga 11-4 11-4 11-4 in the second round. Amalraj and Madhurika Patkar too made it to the next round after beating Dexter St Louis and Reann Chung of Trinidad and Tobago 11-4 11-9 9-11 11-4. They had earlier beaten another Trinidad and Tobago pair Aaron Wilson and Catherine Spicer 11-4 11-8 11-9. In men’s doubles, Sharath and Amalraj thrashed Simasiku Kalaluka and Friday Ng’andu of Zambia 3-0 (11-6 11-4 11-3). In women’s singles, Manika Batra thrashed New Zealand’s Annie Yang 11-5 11-3 11-6 11-6, while Madhurika Patkar defeated Sri Lanka’s Ishara Madurangi 12-10 11-9 11-6 and Shamini Kumaresan eked out a 11-3 6-11 11-4 9-11 11-9 8-11 11-7 win over Ganiat Ogundele of Nigeria. However, Soumyajit Ghosh and Poulomi Ghatak went down fighting 2-3 (11-9 10-12 11-8 1-11 8-11) against England’s S Walker and K le Fevre in the third round mixed doubles match. The duo had beaten Tabish Khurshid and Abeera Sheikh 11-8 11-5 11-4 in the second round. Soumyajit, though, teamed up with Harmeet Desai to defeat Trinidad and Tobago’s Yuvraaj Dookram and Aaron Wilson 3-0 (11-6 11-7 11-6) in men’s doubles second round. Batra and Sanil Shetty too failed to cross the third round after they were outsmarted by Tengteng Liu and Karen Li 11-6 12-10 11-8. The Indian pair had earlier trounced Trevor Farley and Sherrice Felix of Barbados 11-2 11-5 11-3 in the second round. PTI