Defending champions India beat Singapore 3-1 in the final to a win gold medal in the men's table table tennis event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Tuesday.
For the Indians, G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai played a key role in the victory as both the paddlers won their singles tie and doubles rubber against their opponents.
After a top-place finish in the table tennis men's team event, India's gold-medal medal tally has now increased to five and the country is currently sixth in the standings.
The Indian men's team, thus, successfully retained the crown which they had won in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. This is India's third gold medal in table tennis men's team event, having won it initially in the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
The men’s team began their final campaign on a positive note with the duo of Harmeet Desai and G Sathiyan giving India a 1-0 lead by overcoming Yong Izaac Quek and Yew En Koen Pang in the doubles encounter.
After a tight first set, Desai and Sathiyan found their feet to overcome their Singaporean opponents 13-11, 11-7, 11-5 in the first match of the summit clash.
However, India suffered a setback when the country's most experienced paddler Sharath Kamal went down 11-7, 12-14, 11-3, 11-9 to Singapore's Zhe Yu Clarence Chew in the men's singles.
The 40-year-old Sharath showed grit to register a comeback in the second set after losing his first but the Singaporean looked in total control as he helped his side level the score 1-1.
Following Sharath's defeat, G Sathiyan once again came back to feature for India in the second singles match of the final. The 27-year-old paddler proved why he was India's highest ranked player with a 12-10, 7-11, 11-7, 11-4 win against Yew En Koen Pang.
With the match hanging in the balance, Sathiyan's victory offered India the much-needed 2-1 lead against their opponents Singapore.
Later, Sathiyan's doubles partner Harmeet Desai entered the fray for India's crucial singles tie against Zhe Yu Clarence Chew, who had earlier defeated Sharath.
This time, however, Harmeet turned out to be the better of the two as he overcame his counterpart with a 11-8, 11-5, 11-6 dominating win to hand India a gold medal in the men's table tennis team event.
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