Commonwealth TT: Indian men defend crown, women down S'pore for maiden title

Cuttack: Indian men defended their crown beating England while the women blanked Singapore for their maiden title at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships here Friday.

England tried to change the script but the Indian men brought in a twist to the tale through birthday boy Harmeet Desai to end the English hopes to lift the Host Association's Cup.

The men beat England 3-2 while Indian women did the impossible downing Singapore 3-0 to dethrone the defending champions Singapore who had a stranglehold on the trophy since 1997. After having won the Cup for eight consecutive times, their vice-like grip was snapped when they chose to send a weak team.

Men, on the other hand, could extend their reign for the second successive time after annexing the title in the previous edition at Surat in 2015. The Indian men had won their first crown in Kuala Lumpur in 2004.

Archana Kamath began it all for India but it took some time before she could shake off her rustiness to overcome Ho Tin-Tin, the promising player of Chinese origin with a pen-holder grip.

Archana, when attacked on the forehand, found her returns going awry but her strong backhand rescued her against the Briton. After she won the extended second game, the Indian never looked back to put India on a winning path. Manika Batra decimated Denise Payet and Madhurika woke up from her passive play to tighten the noose around Emily Bolton and England for a 3-0sweep.

Harmeet Desai, celebrating his 26th birthday, not only presented himself a wonderful gift but also brought India from the brink to a face-saving title victory. India, trailing 0-2 in the final, needed Desai to give that spark which was lacking. And he did not disappoint with a fantastic win over McBeath to pave the way for Sathiyan and Sharath to complete the task in their reverse singles.

If Sharath was awful against Thomas Jarvis, who is No. 186 in the world, in the opening tie, Sathiyan was equally guilty of plotting his own downfall against Samuel Walker, ranked No. 86. And that too after taking a 2-0 lead. But credit must be given to the two English players, especially Jarvis who not only blocked superbly but had the experienced Sharath in a tangle with his accuracy.