The Indian men’s team has matched the historic feat of their women’s team by clinching the Men’s Team Gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia.
The Indian team represented by Sharath Kamal ACHANTA, Sathiyan GNANASEKARAN and Harmeet DESAI were too strong for a heroic Nigerian team in the final, claiming victory 3-0 to add the gold medal to the one that they won in 2006 in Melbourne.
Sharath Kamal ACHANTA, who set the scene for India, defeating Abiodun BODE 4-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-9, stated: “I really was surprised in the first game how well Bode played, I made mistakes receiving his service and he had no problems with my service. From the second game onwards I changed my services, I served more to his backhand, not middle forehand and made sure I was the first to attack. At 10-7 in the fourth game I saw the winning post, I was rushing so at 10-9 I took the “Time Out”. I think we were lucky, it good we didn’t play Nigeria in the morning and of course we were fortunate Quadri Aruna did not play.”
Sathiyan GNANASEKARAN, who put India up 2-0 by beating Segun TORIOLA 10-12, 11-3, 11-3, 11-4 in the singles, before teaming up with Harmeet DESAI to finish the job in the doubles 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 added: “In the first game I was ahead 10-6, I thought I’d won the game, I lost focus, I made easy mistakes, but I felt confident, I felt I was playing well. After losing the first game I said to myself start again from love-all. My legs were fast and I was quick to attack. He needed time to play his strokes, so I tried to give him no time. The doubles was perfect with Harmeet, we were strong from the very first point and we were able to win this amazing gold medal, which was our goal coming into these games.”
Nigeria may not have been a match for India in the final, but they will forever go down in Commonwealth Games folk law, as they produced one of the most amazing upsets in the semifinals. Nigeria, without their top player Quadri ARUNA, who also missed the final due to sickness but hopes to be back for the singles event, battled against the odds and beat the favorites for the Gold England 3-2 in one of the most dramatic matches ever seen.
A visibly disappointed England bounced back strongly against Singapore in the bronze medal play-off. The 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships bronze medallists, added another bronze to their collection, by defeating Singapore 3-0 to match their women’s team performance yesterday.
The preliminary for the individual events begin tomorrow, 10 April 2018!
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