Indian women paddlers miss out on CWG bronze

Indian women paddlers lost their 2014 Commonwealth Games team bronze medal match to Australia 1-3 at the Scotstoun Table Tennis Centre here Sunday.

After taking a 2-1 lead, 2010 silver medallists India lost the next two ties -- doubles and singles -- to return home empty-handed.

India's Shamini Kumaresan lost the first singles match to Ziyu Zhang 5-11, 11-2, 6-11, 9-11.

Manika Batra tied the best-of-five rubber 1-1 by beating Jian Fang Lay in the second singles match 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7.

The 19-year-old had to battle hard after losing the second game but kept her nerve to edge the next two.

Madhurika Suhas Patkar and Kumaresan combine worked extremely hard to beat Miao Miao and Jian Fang in the doubles tie. Both teams were of equal match and played some fascinating table tennis.

The Indian pair twice took the lead -- winning the first and third game -- but the Australian team came back strongly each time to bring level the scores at 2-2.

Miao and Jian carried the momentum in to the decisive fifth game, taking a 7-4 lead. Indian duo didn't give up to bring the gap down to 7-8 but the Australian team held on to win the game 11-7 and the match 19-21, 11-3, 9-11, 11-4, 11-7.

In the third singles tie, Ziyu Zhang got the better of Madhurika 3-2 (11-9, 5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9).

After losing the first game, Madhurika won the next two to take a 2-1 lead. But like her teammates, Ziyu refuse to give up and won the next two to give Australia the bronze.