Singapore lived up to their billing by winning both the men's and women team championship in the 19th Commonwealth Championships at the Thyagraj Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.
After their eves team outplayed the team from England 3-0, the men got the better of hosts India also with a comprehensive 3-0 win.
In front of a good turnout, a lot was expected from the Indian team but they failed to stop the highly-skilled and a superior Singapore side. Although, the result may not be a surprise, the hosts were expected to give it a fight and may be a result like 2009 edition's 3-1 would've brought some more cheers from the crowd.
In the first match, Soumyajit Ghosh started well for the hosts, leading 10-6 against Jian Zhan at one point. But, the 25th-ranked Singaporean fought hard to win the battle 13-11. The inexperience of the 19-year old Indian showed in his impatience as he committed a lot of errors.
The 30-year old who is also the highest-ranked male in the Championships later went on to win the next two sets easily - 11-8 and 11-3 to make it 1-0.
Next, it was down to the experienced head in Achantha Sharath Kamal to pull it back for the hosts, but the 70th-ranked 30-year old Chennai-lad disappointed, losing to 55th-ranked Hu li 11-4, 11-4 and 11-9.
Brave Shetty
After trailing 0-2, the onus was on the 23-year old and 332nd-ranked Sanil Shetty in his tie against the 174th-ranked liang Ma. The Mumbai-lad raised his game after going down in the opening game 8-11 to snatch two wins — 11-9 and 11-8 in the next two to give India some hope.
During the fourth set, it seemed he might pull one pull one off and take the battle to the reverse tie when he was leading 4-0. But then, Ma battled hard and won 11-9. In the decider, the Mumbai-lad lost out of steam and went down 7-11.
After the match, Kamal said that 3-0 was a bad result and that the Indians were defeated by a team which had done their homework properly.
"It is not a good result as we lost 3-0 and especially me and Ghosh both losing our match 3-0 was bad. But, Singapore played well and during the match, we saw that they had prepared well and done their home work. In the first game, had Ghosh gone on to win it after leading 10-6, the results might have been different. And in my case, I had played against li Hu before but then he was not as sharp as he was today. li played well close to the table, unlike the last time. Also, I should have been more aggressive. I got into the groove in the third set engaging in long rallies, but, it was too late to charge," Kamal said.
Kamal also had a word of praise for Shetty.
"Sanil played really well and it was a tense fight. It was one of his best performances. I think he should have closed it down in the fourth set when he was leading 4-0. But, again liang improved his game and won," the veteran Indian added..