New Delhi: Indian women paddlers put up a brave fight before going down 1-3 to Singapore in a league match of the second stage at the 19th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, here on Monday. However, India made a positive start to their campaign overwhelming Scotland 3-0 in the opening match of the day. The eves will now take on Wales to seal a spot in the last four round.
Against Singapore, their toughest tie so far in the event, India made a promising start with Mouma Das (231) pocketing the first game 11-7 against Mengyu Fu with fierce forehand shots. Despite starting well in the second game too, Mouma failed to carry forward the momentum against the world no 27 and went down 9-11. The Singaporean then went to take the next games 11-5, 11-6 to give the lead to her side.
India's next bet, Madhurika Patkar also battled hard against London Olympics bronze medallist Feng Tianwei of Singapore before losing 2-11, 13-11, 2-11, 5-11. With India trailing 0-2, Neha Aggrawal scored an upset as win over Yihan Zhou (91). The local girl beat her higher-rated Singaporean opponent 11-6, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6 to extend the tie for the hosts.
In the reverse match, a gritty Mouma played a five game encounter against Feng. Mouma leveled twice before losing steam in the final game. She lost the match 5-11 11-8 5-11 12-10 11-4. The Indian evens will now have to beat a lower-ranked Wales in order to assure a place in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, India men's team had an easy outing in their first encounter against Northern Ireland. The Indian men's team comprising Achantha Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh and Sanil Shetty put up a clinical show to bolster their prospects of reaching the semi-finals.
They will take on Scotland and Malaysia later in the day. There is no third and fourth placed fixture in the competition and both the losing semi-finalists receive bronze medals.
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