Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Aug 2: India, the defending champions, defeated Nigeria 3-0 on Monday to advance through to the men’s table tennis finals. Achanta Kamal, a seasoned paddler, would now be in line to win his 10th medal at the Commonwealth Games.
The Indian team was very confident going into the game after defeating Bangladesh on Sunday, 3-0. The doubles team of Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran easily defeated Bode Abiodun and Olajide Omotayo to get them off to a good start in their game with Nigeria in the semifinals. 11-6, 11-7, and 11-7 were the final scores in the victory for Desai and Gnanasekran.
The next player up was Kamal, who squared up with Quadri Aruna in the opening singles encounter. Aruna pushed the 40-year-old to the edge in the first game, which he ultimately won 11-9.
To put pressure back on Kamal before the third game, the Nigerian star recovered and won the second game with a score of 11-7.
In the third game, the Indian paddler made a great comeback and defeated Aruna to retake the lead in the match. With a score of 11-8, he won it.
But the fourth game, which was evenly balanced, came down to the wire. Despite Aruna’s best attempts, Kamal ultimately proved to be too strong for him and won the match with a score of 15-13 in the fourth game. With that, India increased their lead in the match to 2-0.
The second singles match pitted Gnanasekaran against Omotayo first. The 29-year-old won the opening match 11-9. The second game, however, was a surprise for the Indian paddler as Omotayo easily defeated him to win it by a score of 11-4.
In the third game, Gnanasekaran recovered to take the lead once again, winning 11-6.
Both teams played well against one another in the fourth game, which had a score of 4-4 at one point. The 29-year-old Indian paddler, though, remained unwavering and won the fourth game, 11-8. On August 2, India and Singapore will compete in the championship.
