Commonwealth TT C'ship: Indian mixed double pair wins gold medal

Indian mixed doubles pair of G Sathiyan and Archana Kamath defeated Singapore's Pang Yu En Koen and Goi Rui Xuan 3-0 in the final and won the gold medal in the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.

The Indian pair was on top in the final as they piled on the agony of their rivals, particularly on a tired Pang who could not cope with the pressure applied by the top-seeded duo that simply decimated them. This is the first time ever that India has won the gold medal at the mixed doubles event.

Archana, who played well until this point, was unable to find her feet against the attacking Ho, who cashed in on several unforced errors committed by the Indian. After losing the first game, the Bengaluru girl came back to level 1-1 but lost her rhythm from there to lose tamely.

In contrast, Sathiyan and Archana hardly dropped a sweat when they beat the other Indian pair of Harmeet Desai and Ayhika Mukherjee 3-0. In fact, the first two games got over in less than 10 minutes. Though Harmeet and Ayhika resisted a bit longer in the third but could not stop Sathiyan and Archana to progress into the final.

In men's doubles, two Indian pairs--Sharath and Sathiyan and Anthony Amalraj and Manav Thakkar--made it to the semifinals while the two other pairs that will challenge the Indian domination will be Pang Yu En and Chua Shao Han from Singapore and the English duo of Samuel Walker and Thomas Jarvis, respectively on July 22.

India's gold count, on the penultimate day of the championships, stands at three.