Indian teams enter Super 8 stage

Cuttack, July 17 

Hosts India made a bright start to their campaign at the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, topping their groups to qualify for the Super Eight stage in both the men’s and women’s team events here today.

The domination of Indian paddlers was such that they lost just two games — one by Achanta Sharath Kamal against Singapore’s Zheyu Clarence Chew in the men’s event and another by Ayhika Mukherjee against Chamathsara Fernando of Sri Lanka in the women’s category.

Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai first beat Scotland 3-0 and then followed it up with a win against Singapore.

In the women’s event, India tried out their bench strength. The team of Manika Batra, Mukherjee and Archana Kamath beat Sri Lanka. But Batra and Mukherjee were rested for the match against South Africa. Instead, Madurika Patkar and Sutirtha Mukherjee were tried out and  India won 3-0. 

In the latest development, Uganda and Guyana would be sending their teams for participation in individual events. — PTI