20 Jul 2019

Contrasting finals but with the same outcome; in both the men’s team and women’s team events at the 2019 Commonwealth Championships in Cuttack, on Friday 19th July, it was gold for India, silver for England.

Moreover, in each disciplines Singapore gained third place.

by Ian Marshall, Editor

Selecting Manika Batra, Archana Girish Kamath and Madhurika Patkar; India posted a 3-0 penultimate round win against Singapore’s Eunice Zoe Lim, Goi Rui Xuan and Wong Xin Ru, before recording the same margin of victory in the final when facing England’s Emily Bolton, Tin-Tin Ho and Denise Payet.

Convincing; for their male counterparts in the guise of Sharath Kamal Achanta, Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran life was very different. Confronting the English trio comprising Tom Jarvis, David McBeath and Sam Walker at the final hurdle, at the end of the second match, Indian fate was on the proverbial knife-edge.

Sharath Kamal Achanta suffered a surprise reverse at the hands of Tom Jarvis (11-7, 11-8, 11-4), before Sathiyan Gnanasekaran lost to Sam Walker (5-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-8). Facing potential defeat, Harmeet Desai accounted for David McBeath (4-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8) to reduce the match deficit; Sathiyan Gnanasekaran levelled matters by beating Tom Jarvis (11-2, 6-11, 11-6, 11-6), prior to Sharath Kamal Achanta overcoming Sam Walker to complete the recovery.

Earlier at the semi-final stage with no changes to the selections, India had recorded a 3-0 win against Singapore’s Beh Kun Ting, Clarence Chew and Pang Yu En Koen; in a slightly more testing contest, England had posted a 3-1 success in opposition to Malaysia’s Muhamad Muhamed Razal, Leong Chee Feng and Wong Wi Shen.

In the play-off contest with Josh Chua Shao Han preferred to Beh Kun Ting and Javen Choong replacing Wong Qi Shen, Singapore recorded a 3-0 success against Malaysia.

Meanwhile, in the counterpart women’s team event, Singapore selecting Goi Rui Xuan, Eunice Zoe Lim and Wong Xin Ru secured third place by posting a 3-0 against Nigeria’s Cecilia Akpan, Nimotalia Aregbesola and Esther Oribamise. Earlier at the semi-final stage, Nigeria, with Offiong Edem and Ajoke Ojomu lining up alngside Cecilia Akpan defeat by the same margin had been experienced when facing England.

Attention now focuses on the individual events; play in Cuttack concludes on Monday 22nd July.

2019 Commonwealth Championships: Men’s Team – Stage 1 – Results (Wednesday 17th July)
2019 Commonwealth Championships: Men’s Team – Stage 2 – Results (Thursday 18th July)
2019 Commonwealth Championships: Men’s Team – Results – Stage 3 (Friday 19th July)

2019 Commonwealth Championships: Women’s Team – Stage 1 – Results (Wednesday 17th July)
2019 Commonwealth Championships: Women’s Team – Stage 2 – Results (Thursday 18th July)
2019 Commonwealth Championships: Women’s Team – Detailed Results – All Stages (Friday 19th July)

2019 Commonwealth Championships: Men’s Team – Detailed Results – All Stages (Friday 19th July)
2019 Commonwealth Championships: Women’s Team – Detailed Results – All Stages (Friday 19th July)

2019 Commonwealth Championships India England