India sweep SAG table tennis with seven golds

India made a clean sweep winning seven gold and five silver medals in the women's doubles, men's doubles, mixed doubles, and men's and women's singles events of table tennis competitions in the 12th South Asian Games (SAG) here on Wednesday.

National champions Anthony Amalraj and Manika Batra claimed three gold medals each.

Amalraj won the men's singles after G. Sathiyan conceded the match due to a thumb injury. The in-form Amalraj, was leading 6-11, 11-6, 11-6 and was 2-2 in the fourth game against Sathiyan.

Sathiyan took the first game 11-6, before Amalraj hit back.

The commonwealth medallist was leading in the third set 8-6 when Sathiyan injured his thumb hitting the table while aiming to smashing the ball.

Sathiyan, who returned to the court after nursing his wound, was beaten in the third set 11-6. The runner-up in the 2016 national table tennis championships was forced to concede in the fourth set due to the injury and settled for the silver medal.

The bronze medals were awarded to Sri Lanka's men Rohan Sirisena and Udaya Ranasinghe as the losing semi-finalists.

In the women's singles table tennis final, five-time former national champion Mouma Das beat the reigning national champion Manika after winning 13-15, 12-10, 7-11, 15-13 11-8, 11-13, 11-9 in a marathon battle at the packed Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Hall.

Sri Lanka's women paddlers Ishara Madhurangi and Ruvini Kannangura were awarded bronze as the losing semi-finalists.

Manika earlier won the women's doubles crown with Pooja Sahasrabudhe. They defeated of Mouma and K Shamini 11-7, 13-11, 11-5. Bronze was won by Nepal's Nabita Shrestha and Elina Maharjan and Ishara Madhurangi and Erandi Warusawithana of Sri Lanka.

In the men's doubles final, G Sathiyan and Devesh Karia beat Amalraj and Sanil Shetty 11-1, 11-8, 11-6 to win gold.

Both bronzes in the men's category went to Sri Lankan pairs Rohan Sirisena/Chameern Ginge and Udaya Ranasinghe/Nirmala Jayasinghe.