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Neha wins her first doubles match

By Staff

Pune, Oct 14 (UNI) The Indian duo of Neha Aggarwal and Soumi Mondal were stretched to the limit before the pair made a stunning comeback to trounce the Welsh combination in the girls doubles event of the Table Tennis competition of the Commonwealth Youth Games here today.

Down by a game, Neha and Soumi pulled themselves up to overpower Chloe Anna Thomas and Eleri Porter Philips 4-1 (12-14, 11-3, 11-6, 11-7 in the round robin league match of their group.

In the other doubles match, local girls Pooja Sahasrabudhe and Divya Deshpande brushed aside Prisclla and Stephanie Qwea in straight games 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-8).

The fancied pair of Neha and Soumi took time to get into the grove but not before the two were given a scare by their rivals.

However, the Indian paddlers battled their way into the match with some clever moves and placements.

Initially, even Neha looked a bit rusty as her returns landed outside the table and frustration looked to creep in. But in the second game, the unheralded Wales' pair could not match the skills of their India counterparts and it was an almost one-sided game.

''I think their opponents played the first game well but once Neha and Soumi got into the groove, the match went as expected,'' Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) secretary general Dhanraj Choudhary, who was closely watching them play, said after the match Neha's smashes were producing good results and surely, the Olympian's advises did help her partner to come good as well.

From there on, there was no looking back for the Indians who were being cheered by a good number of crowd and they went on to finish the match not only playing well but outsmarting thier opponents.

In the opening match of the day for boys, Soumyajit Ghosh moved a step further towards his goal of winning a gold in the competition as he outclassed Edmond Noel of Vanuata 3-0 (11-2, 11-3, 11-6) to advance to the knock out stage.

His game was well above his rival's as he dominated the procedings throughout the match and did not lose his grip over the match ever in the three games.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran followed Soumyajit's footsteps and beat Cerl Jon James of Wales in an another lop-sided match which he won 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-6).

UNI RAR CS AS1542

Story first published: Thursday, August 24, 2017, 16:31 [IST]
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