Indians off to good start in singles event at Commonwealth table tennis
Earlier, teenager Sourav Saha gave a scare to Singapore's Feng Chen before going down 3-4. In the men's singles, Jubin Kumar, Achanta Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh and Anthony Amalraj won their respective opening round matches, while Mouma Das, K Shamini, Madhurika and Neha Aggarwal have advanced to the second round in the women's singles category.
Indians got off to a good start with all the big names clearing the first round hurdle in the singles event at the 19th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships here on Thursday.
In the men's singles, Jubin Kumar, Achanta Sharath Kamal, Soumyajit Ghosh and Anthony Amalraj won their respective opening round matches, while Mouma Das, K Shamini, Madhurika and Neha Aggarwal have advanced to the second round in the women's singles category.
Jubin inflicted an upset defeat over Liang Ma of Singapore 4-3.
Started off brilliantly against a much higher ranked opponent, Jubin grabbed the first game comfortably 11-7.
Going onto the sixth with a 3-2 lead, Jubin displayed great back hand defense to surge ahead 7-4.
However, Ma raised his game and forced the Indian to get away from the table and commit mistakes. And Eventually took the game 13-11.
In the decider, Ma looked a bit jaded and hit wayward shots to lose the match 6-11, even as the 27-year-old Indian held on to his nerves in the final moments to pull off a great victory.
Earlier, teenager Sourav Saha gave a scare to Singapore's Feng Chen before going down 3-4.
World No. 93, Saha failed to handle the pressure against his superior opponent despite being 3-1 up in his first round match. An experienced Chen made a strong comeback to turn the tide in his favour.
Indian pair of Mouma Das and Soumyajit Ghosh entered the semifinals of the mixed doubles event and will take on Singapore's Zi Yang and Mengyu Yu later in the day.