CWG: Satisfactory day for India

Gold Coast   :   India's campaign in table tennis competition at the 21st Commonwealth Games got off to a good start with singles and team players advancing to the next stage. The disappointments on the day were mixed doubles pairs Harmeet Desai and Pooja Sahasrabudhe as they were ousted here on Wednesday.

Indian para paddlers also had the mixed outings as Maitreyee Sarkar thrashed her opponent Vero Nime while Vaishnavi went down 0-3 to Nigerian Faith Obazuaye in group 2.

The day started with para paddlers Maitreyee Sarkar and Vaishnavi Sutar, who had a mixed outing in their respective women's TT6-10 singles group matches.

While Maitreyee thrashed Papua New Guniea's Vero Nime 3-0 in group 1, Vaishnavi went down 0-3 to Nigerian Faith Obazuaye in group 2.

Maitreyee overcame Wednesday's loss to Australian Melissa Tapper, with a 3-0 (11-2, 11-9, 11-2) win over the PNG paddler.

She will next face England's Felicity Pickard on Thursday for a place in the semi-finals.

On the other hand, Maitreyee's compatriot Vaishnavi's dreams of reaching the semi-finals are almost over after losing 0-3 to Nigerian Obazuaye.

The Indian had no reply to the Nigerian's aggressive play in all the three games that saw her winning 11-0, 11-2, 11-2.

Vaishnavi had earlier lost to Canada's Stephanie Chan on Tuesday. She will next face Australian Andrea McDonnell on Thursday.

In women's doubles Round-of-32 match, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Pooja Sahasrabudhe outclassed Mauritius pair of Ruqayyah Kinoo and Sanjana Alix Ramasawmy 3-0.

The Indian pair had a comfortable outing while whipping off the opponents 11-3, 11-4, 11-4 in straight games.

Sutirtha and Pooja will next fight it out for a place in the quarterfinals, with Wales pair of Charlotte Carey and Chloe Thomas in the round of 16 on Thursday.

Indian men's doubles duo of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, and Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shankar Shetty also advanced to the round of 16.

Sharath and Sathiyan entered the round of 16 after thrashing Kiribati duo Tauramoa Miita and Nooa Takooa 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-6) while Harmeet and Sanil beat Guyana's Shemar Britton and Christopher Franklin 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-7).

Sharath and Sathiyan had no problems in dealing with the inexperienced Kiribati pair, comfortably clinching the round of 32 tie.

Sharath and Sathiyan will next take on Sri Lanka's Buwaneka Jayasingha Mudiyanselage and Imesh Ranasingha on Thursday for a place in the quarter-finals.

The other men's doubles pair of Harmeet and Sanil too had an easy outing against the Guyana combo, who failed to put up a challenge in any of the three games.

In the round of 16, Harmeet and Sanil will be up against Northern Ireland's Paul McCreery and Ashley Robinson at the Oxenford Studios on Thursday.

India's veteran duo fo Achanta Sharath Kamal and Mouma Das also advanced to the round of 16 in mixed doubles competitions

But it was curtains for the other mixed doubles pair of Harmeet Desai and Pooja Sahasrabudhe, who lost their round of 32 tie 1-3 (6-11, 6-11, 11-3, 9-11) to Malaysia's Javen Choong and Karen Lyne.

Sharath and Mouma, however proceeded to the round of 16 after beating the Sri Lankan duo of Rohan Sirisena and Ishara Madurangi 3-1 (11-6, 4-11, 11-9, 11-5) at the Oxenford Studios here.

After comfortably pocketing the first game, the Indians struggled to continue their dominance in the second as the Sri Lankans managed to square the scoreline 1-1.

In the third game, Sharath and Mouma used all their experience to bounce back and comprehensibly beat the Sri Lankans and did not allow them to get back even in the fouth game, to seal the contest in India's favour.

Sharath and Mouma will on Thursday face England duo of David McBeath and Kelly Sibley for a place in the quarter-finals.

Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran also advanced to the last 16, with a fighting 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 13-11) win over Chee Feng Leong and Ying Ho in mixed doubles match. Madhurika Patkar and Sanil Shankar Shetty, then joined forces to beat Sri Lankan pair of Buwaneka Jayasingha Mudiyanselage and Erandi Warusawithana 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-5) in straight games.

The singles players also witnessed a good outing on the seventh day of the meet.

India's Madhurika Patkar and Mouma Das advanced to round of 16 after winning both their respective singles matches.

Madhurika had to toil hard to tame Trinidad and Tobago's Rheann Chung 4-1 (11-7, 14-12, 11-9, 11-2, 11-9) while Mouma had an easy 4-1 (11-6, 11-1, 11-8, 11-7) win against Mauritius' Elodie Ho Wan Kau.

Madhurika will next face off England's Kelly Sibley for a place in the quarter-finals while Mouma will take on another English girl Tin-Tin Ho in her round of 16 match.

In men's singles category, Harmeet Desai, Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran came out victorious to enter the Round-of-16.

While Harmeet and Sathiyan comfortably outclassed their opponents, Sharath faced a fight from Malaysia's Javen Choong.

Harmeet thrashed Papua New Guinea's Geoffrey Loi 4-0 (11-4,11-3,11-1,11-2) and Sathiyan outplayed Pakistan's Muhammad Rameez 4-0 (11-5,11-3,11-5,11-3).

Sharath managed to win a tough game 4-3 (11-2,11-5,11-4,7-11,11-13,6-11,11-7).