Manika enter semis, Mouma crashes out

Manika Batra cruised to the semifinals of the women's singles even as experienced paddler Mouma Das ended her campaign of the Commonwealth Games here on Thursday.

Manika, who played a stellar role in India's historic gold in the women's team event, notched up a win against Singapore's Yihan Zhou 4-1. The Delhi paddler hardly broke a sweat in the first three games, winning 11-5, 11-6, 11-2.

However, she was unable to finish the match as she stumbled in the fourth game 6-11 but sealed the match with 11-9 win in the fifth game.

In the other women's singles, Mouma was ousted by Yu Mengyu of Singapore 13-15, 7-11, 5-11, 11-7, 5-11.

Madhurika Patkar also crashed out, losing 9-11, 8-11, 11-2, 3-11, 11-8, 6-11 to England's Kelly Sibley.

In the men's singles, Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai and G Sathiyan sealed quarterfinal berths.

Sharath beat Australia's Heming Hu 11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5 while Desai notched a win against Malaysia's Chee Feng Leong 11-5, 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 11-4 and Sathiyan's Nigerian opponent Segun Toriola retired after the first game 11-7.

In the men's doubles, Sharath and Sathiyan reached the quarterfinals, outclassing the Sri Lankan pair of Buwaneka Jayasingha Mudiyanselage and Imesh Ranasingha 11-3, 11-4, 12-10.

The pair of Desai and Sanil Shetty also posted a comfortable 11-4, 12-10, 11-9 win over Northern Ireland's Paul McCreery and Ashley Robinson to book a quarterfinal berth.

In the women's doubles, Mouma and Manika reached the semifinals with a 4-0 win over England. They beat Tin-Tin HO Maria Tsaptsinos 12-14, 11-3, 11-7, 11-6.

The other Indian pair of Sutirtha Mukherjee and Pooja Sahasrabudhe beat Alicia Cote and Mo Zhang of Canada 11-6, 11-7, 14-12 to advance to the semifinals.