<p>Indian men cruised into the semifinals of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships here on Monday while the women entered the last four after giving a scare to mighty Singapore. </p>.<p>The men paddlers headed by Sharath Kamal won their matches against Northern Ireland, Scotland and Malaysia with identical 3-0 margins to top Group F. Singapore were first in Group E ahead of England, who qualified as the second best team out of four. </p>.<p>The Indian women went down fighting to Singapore 1-3 but 3-0 victories over Scotland and Wales in Group E ensured their entry into the semifinals. The losing semifinalists are assured of a bronze medal. <br /><br />England will be the semifinal opponents for both the Indian teams. India’s standout performance of the day came in a losing cause. </p>.<p>The women’s team comprising Mouma Das, Madhurika Patkar, and Neha Aggarwal was 0-2 down against Singapore and were expected to lose the third singles as well.<br />But Delhi girl Neha staged a morale boosting show to pull one back for the hosts, beating 102-ranked Zhou Yihan 11-6, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6. <br /><br />The 428th ranked Indian foxed her fancied opponent with her long pimpled rubber, which she has started using again since December. Neha had played with the anti-rubber most of her career but shifted to plain on both sides after representing India at the 2008 Olympics. <br />In the men’s team event, India were expected to breeze past Ireland and Malaysia, and face some resistance from the Scottish unit. The Scots ended up being easy meat. Top-ranked Indian, Sharath Kamal, dispatched Sean Doherty 11-6, 11-3, 11-8 in the first singles.<br /><br />Soumyajit Ghosh produced a clinical effort to beat Scottish No 1 Gavin Rumgay 11-5, 11-5, 11-8. Sanil Shetty lost the second game against Niall Cameron before completing an 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3 win.</p>
<p>Indian men cruised into the semifinals of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships here on Monday while the women entered the last four after giving a scare to mighty Singapore. </p>.<p>The men paddlers headed by Sharath Kamal won their matches against Northern Ireland, Scotland and Malaysia with identical 3-0 margins to top Group F. Singapore were first in Group E ahead of England, who qualified as the second best team out of four. </p>.<p>The Indian women went down fighting to Singapore 1-3 but 3-0 victories over Scotland and Wales in Group E ensured their entry into the semifinals. The losing semifinalists are assured of a bronze medal. <br /><br />England will be the semifinal opponents for both the Indian teams. India’s standout performance of the day came in a losing cause. </p>.<p>The women’s team comprising Mouma Das, Madhurika Patkar, and Neha Aggarwal was 0-2 down against Singapore and were expected to lose the third singles as well.<br />But Delhi girl Neha staged a morale boosting show to pull one back for the hosts, beating 102-ranked Zhou Yihan 11-6, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6. <br /><br />The 428th ranked Indian foxed her fancied opponent with her long pimpled rubber, which she has started using again since December. Neha had played with the anti-rubber most of her career but shifted to plain on both sides after representing India at the 2008 Olympics. <br />In the men’s team event, India were expected to breeze past Ireland and Malaysia, and face some resistance from the Scottish unit. The Scots ended up being easy meat. Top-ranked Indian, Sharath Kamal, dispatched Sean Doherty 11-6, 11-3, 11-8 in the first singles.<br /><br />Soumyajit Ghosh produced a clinical effort to beat Scottish No 1 Gavin Rumgay 11-5, 11-5, 11-8. Sanil Shetty lost the second game against Niall Cameron before completing an 11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3 win.</p>