Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran win silver at Commonwealth Games 2022: India’s veteran table tennis players Achanta Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan won a silver medal for the second successive edition in the men’s doubles event of the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, while Sreeja Akula missed out on a bronze medal in the women’s singles event. Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan were beaten 11-8, 8-11, 3-11, 11-7, 4-11 by England’s Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford in a thrilling encounter.
Medal favorites England dominate Indian shuttler in the deciding game
Indian shuttlers Achanta Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan made a stellar start to win the first game 11-8 but the hosts staged a fightback to make a good comeback and level the score. England players equalized after winning the third game but the Indian pair again leveled the score at 2-2. In the deciding last game, the England pair came down heavily on the Indians.
Sharath Kamal will now take on Drinkhall, and Sathiyan will clash against Pitchford in the men’s singles semi-finals. The pair of Sharath Kamal and Sreeja will play Malaysia’s Jeevan Chung and Karen Laine in the mixed doubles finals.
Earlier, Indian female Table Tennis player Sreeja Akula lost 3-4 to Australia’s Yangzi Liu in the women’s singles bronze medal playoff. Sreeja lost 11-3, 6-11, 2-11, 11-7, 13-15, 11-9, 7-11 despite making a comeback in a match that lasted more than an hour and a half. The Hyderabad player started well against a nervous Liu to win the first game. However, she failed to maintain the momentum and Liu started dominating the match and ultimately won the bronze medal.