Sharath Kamal lone Indian to reach TT semifinals

Melbourne, Mar 24 (UNI) Achanta Sharath Kamal kept India's medal hopes alive as he edged past Singapore's Li Xiao Cai 4-2 to move into the semifinals of the men's open Table Tennis competition of the Commonwealth Games here today.

Sharath Kamal is the lone Indian left in the field after his compatriots fell by the wayside as the semifinal line up was completed.

Hyderabad-based Sharath Kamal overpowered a spirited challenge from fancied Li Xiao Cai in a tough quarter final match.

Architect of India's gold medal win in the team event, Sharath Kamal looked irresistible as he displayed fighting quality to take a 3-0 lead against Cai but then sudden lapse in his concentration allowed his rival to fight back in the match, winning the next two games to make it 2-3. The Indian rallied superbly in the sixth game to win it and book a semifinal berth.

Sharath Kamal won 11-3, 13-11, 11-8, 5-11, 7-11, 11-7.

Earlier, in Women doubles quarterfinals, Mouma Das and Polumi Ghatak went down fighting to New Zealand's Karen Li and Annie Yang 3-2.

The Indians won the first game but lost next two before comeing back to win the fourth to draw parity. But in the decider they conceded far too many unforced errors and allowed the match to slip out of their hands. The Indians lost 11-9, 13-15, 10-12, 13-11, 10-12.

In the men's doubles quarterfinals also, the Indian pair of Sharath Kamal and Soumyadeep Roy went down to English pair of Andrew Baggaley and Andrew Rushton 3-2 (8-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6, 4-11).

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