Indians off to good start in Table Tennis open event

Melbourne, Mar 21 (UNI) After yesterday's high with their men's team winning gold and the women claiming bronze, the Indian paddlers made a resounding start to their open event campaign as well with seven of the eight players in action winning their qualifying rounds in the Table Tennis competition of the Commonwealth Games here today.

The only Indian who lost in the qualifying round was Shamini Kumaresan who went down 3-4 to Nigeria's Ganiyat Ogundele in a bitterly fought seven-game match.

Other women players Nandita Saha, Mouma Das, Poulomi Ghatak, Kasturi Chakraborty, along with their men compatriots, Subhajit Saha, Soumyadeep Roy and Shibaji Dutta chalked out contrasting victories on their way to the second round.

Shamini lost the first two games against Ogundele but came from behind and won next three in a row to make it 3-2 in her favour. However, she could not sustain the tempo and suddenly lost concentration. The Nigerian capitalised on that and Shamini committed too many unforced errors and conceded negative points to lose the next two games and the match.

Shamini lost 11-13, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 9-11.

But after that, it was a sort of Indian victory parade with other paddlers ousting their rivals in both the men and women sections.

Nandita Saha had one of the easiest outings as she trounced Pakistan's Ghalia Khurshed in straight games (4-0). Khurshed looked novice before the Indian who emerged an easy 11-4, 11-3, 11-5, 11-3 winner.

Poulomi Ghatak overpowered spirited Nigerian Cecillia Offiong in a well contested match 4-2. The two shared the lead in first four games but after that Ghatak played some terrific game to wrap up the match. The Indian won 8-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7.

Mouma Das, architect of Indian team's bronze medal win, outclassed her rival Mueena Mohd of Maldives in straight four games. Mueena could garner only 10 points in four games as Mouma won 11-2, 11-1, 11-3, 11-5.

Former National champion Kasturi Chakraborty made mince meat of Fijian rival Victoria Muller as she won the match 11-2, 11-4, 11-4, 11-4.

In the men's section, the Indians won all their matches in straight games. Yesterday's hero in team events final Soumyadeep Roy routed Alan Puga Resture in a totally one-sided contest 11-4, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6.

Subhajit Saha, on his part, outplayed Northern Ireland's Peter Graham 11-4, 11-3, 11-5, 11-6.

Shibajit Dutta capped the day blanking Northern Ireland's Jonathan Cowan 13-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-4.

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