Indian paddler Sharath Kamal clinched the gold medal in the men’s singles final at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Monday.
Kamal defeated England’s Liam Pitchford 11-13, 11-7, 11-2, 11-6, 11-8 registering a 4-1 victory. Kamal defeated England’s Liam Pitchford 11-13, 11-7, 11-2, 11-6, 11-8.
The first game of the match saw England paddler giving a tough fight to the Indian and he won the game 13-11. The ace paddler Kamal was at his best in the second game as he crushed his opponent 11-7.
The third game was even better as Kamal outclassed his opponent 11-2. Pitchford tried to claw back in the fourth game but the Indian paddler did not allow any slip-up and clinched the game by 11-6. Kamal kept up the momentum and won the fourth game 11-8.
Earlier, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran won his first singles medal at the CWG. The Indian defeated England’s Paul Drinkhall 4-3 in the bronze playoff. Gnanasekaran won the hard-fought match 11-9, 11-3, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9. His match against Drinkhall was a tale of two halves. The 29-year-old had a wonderful start, winning the first three games.
However, Paul pulled things back by claiming three games in a row. But it was the Indian paddler who took the match. With the win, Sathiyan became India’s 58th medallist, and 23rd bronze medallist, at the Commonwealth Games 2022.
Earlier, the Indian mixed doubles duo of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula bagged the gold medal in the mixed doubles final in table tennis.
The Indian table tennis duo of Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula registered a 3-1 win over the Malaysian pair of Javen Choong and Karen Lyne 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6.
