Commonwealth Table Tennis: Ankur Bhattacharjee and Yashaswini Ghorpade win singles titles

Ankur Bhattacharjee and Yashaswini Ghorpade won the men’s and women’s singles crowns at the 22nd Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex on Sunday, and India finished the event with four of the five gold medals on offer.

The men’s final between two leading Indian prospects lasted 70 minutes, with Ankur mounting a comeback to beat Payas Jain after having narrowly missed selection for India’s Asian Games squad, while Yashaswini added a major title by defeating Sreeja Akula; both finalists had been pushed to deciding games in their semifinals earlier in the day, Yashaswini edging Syndrela Das 11-9 in the decider and Sreeja defeating Sutirtha Mukherjee 11-9 in the seventh.

Yashaswini’s final was largely one-sided after the early exchanges: she used consistent forehand topspins to disrupt Sreeja’s rhythm and prevailed 11-6, 11-1, 8-11, 11-7, 13-11; the win offered immediate redemption after she and Divyanshi Bhowmick lost the women’s doubles final to Sreeja and Syndrela, 11-8, 11-13, 11-8, 11-6.

The men’s title match swung back and forth before Ankur completed his recovery, the final score reading 11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-4, 11-9; Payas’ early forehand winners had put him 3-2 ahead, Ankur then produced markedly improved service returns and ran nine straight points in the sixth game to force a seventh, and after receiving a yellow card for protesting Payas’ service and falling 4-7 he used a timeout to regroup and close out the match.

Earlier semifinals produced extended contests: Payas beat Manush Shah 11-9, 11-7, 5-11, 12-10, 11-9, and Ankur defeated Manav Thakkar 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8, 11-8; in the men’s doubles final Shen Qi Wong and Javen Choong (Mas) beat Manav and Manush 11-9, 12-10, 11-7, and the mixed doubles title went to Taneesha Kotecha and Manav, who beat Ai Xin Tee and Richard Rui Zhe Yap (Mas) 11-8, 10-12, 10-12, 11-9, 11-5.

India’s haul of four golds at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex comprised the men’s and women’s singles, the women’s doubles (Sreeja Akula and Syndrela Das) and the mixed doubles (Taneesha Kotecha and Manav); the sole title won by a non-Indian pairing was the men’s doubles, claimed by Shen Qi Wong and Javen Choong of Malaysia.

The listed results conclude the finals programme of the 22nd Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships held at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex on Sunday, with the full match scores as reported above.