Soumyajit, Sathiyan make it an all-India final

Pune, Oct 16 (UNI) Soumyajit Ghosh and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran defied all resisstance from their opponents to make it an all-India final for the Table Tennis competition in the boys' singles of the Commonwealth Youth Games here today.

While the girls found the going tough today, in the boys singles, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran outpointed Shenkiang 4-1 (11-9, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8, 11-7) but not before his Canadian rival made him work hard for every point and Soumyajit came back from a game down to overpower Robert Frank of Australia 4-1 (4-11, 11-9, 14-12, 11-6, 11-4).

In the first semi-final for boys between Sathiyan and Shenkiang, there were long rallies exchanged between the two, but eventually the Indian paddler held his nerves to overcome some anxious moments and won the match to sail into the final.

Sathiyan, who combined with Soumyajit yesterday to win the gold in the boys' doubles, was up against a determined Shenkiang who made him earn every point.

Earlier in the match, Sathiyan was leading by two games, but the Canadian fought hard and staged a great come back only to see his rival won two successive games on trot.

While Shenkiang remained cool and composed under some nerve wrecking moments, Sathiyan looked showed his excitement with every point that he earned. Though there was a contrast in the way both the paddlers expressed their emotions, there was not much too chose when it came to playing the game.

However, the Indian played some good skillful strokes to have the last laugh and will come back again to decide the gold medal winner, while Shenkiang will fight it out for the bronze medal.

Meanwhile, Soumyajit exhibited some thrilling smashes and backhand returns to emerge victorious against the Aussie who gave a scare to his Indian counterpart on more than a few occasions.

The game between the two saw some exciting rallies but just at the end, Soumyajit sensed victory up the tempo to book a summit clash with Sathiyan.

UNI RAR AB DS1408