Indian men’s table tennis team defeated Singapore 3-1 in the final to win the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022 on Tuesday.
This is the fifth gold medal for India in the ongoing muti-nation event. This is India’s first medal in table tennis this time. Prior to this, 8 medals in weightlifting, 2 in judo, and one medal in the lawns bowl were clinched by India.
World no. 121 Harmeet outsmarted 133rd-ranked Zhe Yu Clarence Chew 11-8, 11-5, 11-6 in the third singles to ensure India’s third gold men’s team medal in CWG history.
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.
In the first singles, Sharath went down 7-11, 14-12, 3-11,9-11 against Clarence.
Two net chords helped Sharath in the second game but Clarence comfortably won the next two.
India had won the team gold for the first in Melbourne in 2006 before repeating the feat at the Gold Coast four years ago.
(Inputs from PTI)