JOIN US Indian men’s and women’s table tennis teams made a comfortable start at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, defeating Vanuatu and Barbados respectively at the Scotstoun Sports Campus here on Thursday.
The women’s team, surprise silver-medallists in Delhi four years ago, blanked Barbados 3-0 courtesy a clinical performance by Shamini Kumaresan, Manika Batra and Madhurika Patkar.Shamini got the better of Sherric Felix 11-3, 11-2, 11-3 in the opening singles before Manika made it 2-0 beating Anthonette Riley 11-2, 11-5, 11-2.
Shamini then teamed up with Madhurika for the doubles rubber, taking place for the first time at the Games.
They completed the team’s first win of the competition getting past Krystle Harvey and Riley 11-4, 11-4, 9-11, 11-3.
India’s top player Sharath Kamal was rested for men’s team opener against Vanuatu.Harmeet Desai won the first singles against Ham Lulu 11-2, 11-3, 11-5. Southpaw Sanil Shetty then defeated Yoshua Shing 11-6, 11-2, 7-11, 11-1.
Shetty and Anthony Amalraj paired up for the doubles to give India a 3-0 win. They beat Alan Lin and Shing 11-6, 11-5, 11-4.