19 JULY 2019 STATE OBSERVER NEWS JAMMU
The Indian men and women’s table tennis team on Friday reached the final of the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships 2019, after defeating Singapore by a 3-0 margin apiece in the semi-finals of the tournament.The former reached the semi-finals on the back of 3-0 wins against Sri Lanka and Malaysia. G. Sathiyan and Manav Thakar battled it out against Sri Lanka with Harmeet Desai and Achanta Sharath Kamal pitted against Malaysia. The Indian women’s team, on the other hand, emerged victorious by a comfortable 3-0 margin in all three stage-two matches played against Wales, Nigeria and Malaysia. Coaches Australian Brett Clarke and Soumyadeep Roy had provided several opportunities to both male and female paddlers, with Archana Kamath the only common player in all three matches involving the women’s team.This strategy proved to be an effective one as Madhurika Patkar, Manika Batra, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee delivered excellent performances whenever provided opportunities.The win against Singapore has helped the Indian men and women’s team continue to remain unbeaten in the tournament.
