Sharath bags bronze, India finish with five medals in TT
Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal won a bronze, defeating compatriot Soumyadeep Roy 4-0 in the men's singles third place play-off as Indian paddlers finished their campaign in the Commonwealth Games with five medals, including a gold, in New Delhi today.
Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal won a bronze, defeating compatriot Soumyadeep Roy 4-0 in the men's singles third place play-off as Indian paddlers finished their campaign in the Commonwealth Games with five medals, including a gold, in New Delhi on Thursday.
Reigning national champion Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das also claimed another bronze for India, beating Australian duo of Tan Z Vivian and Campbell-Innes Peri 3-0 in the women's doubles' play-off at the Yamuna Sports Complex.
World number 40, Sharath started on a positive note by bagging the opening game 11-8 in front of almost a full house at the stadium complex. In the second game, Soumyadeep tried hard to stage a comeback but Sharath showed consummate ease in playing long returns and bagged it 11-5.
The third game was, however, a keenly contested affair, which Sharath narrowly won 12-10 and then claimed the next one 11-9 to pocket the bronze. "It was a hard game for me. Soumyadeep was the first to hug me after the gold medal match yesterday and today I was playing him. It is a different feeling from that of national level tournaments," Sharath said after the match.
"But I regret if I could have performed better yesterday in the semifinal and reached the final. Now the target is to do well in next month's Asian Games," the lanky paddler added.
Sharath, who failed to defend the singles title in the Delhi Games, was also happy with the overall performance of Indians paddlers. "Last time in Melbourne (in 2006) we got three medals and this time we gave five medals -- all colours. So, I am happy with the performance. But I could have done better in singles," he said.
Sharath had lost to Singapore's Yang Zi 3-4, while Soumyadeep was drubbed 0-4 by another Singaporean, world number 17, Gao Ning in the men's singles semifinals yesterday. Gao, however, had to content with the silver medal as he went down 1-4 to Yang in the gold medal clash.
Earlier, determined to make up for Wednesday's semifinal loss, Poulomi and Mouma took an attacking strategy from the onset and bagged the first game 11-4. The Australians tried to force their way in the next, but the experienced Indian duo survived some early challenges before getting the better of their opponents 11-7.
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