Sharath-Shamini clinch TT mixed doubles gold

Table Tennis ace Achanta Sharath Kamal on Friday clinched the mixed doubles title with national champion Kumaresan Shamini as he lined himself up for another gold after storming into the men's singles summit clash in the 34th National Games here.

The duo of Sharath Kamal and Shamini bounced back from two sets down to defeat the Bengal duo of Sourav Saha and Ankita Das 8-11, 4-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-4.

Sharath Kamal's hopes of another title on Friday was dashed when he along with G Vinod lost out to the Bengal pair of Sourav Chakraborty and Anirban Nandi 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 8-11 in men's doubles final.

Sharath Kamal earlier stormed into the men's singles summit clash after thrashing Bengal's Raj Mondal 11-3, 11-4, 11-4, 11-9 as he remained in contention for a hat-trick of titles.

The world number 40 had earlier led Tamil Nadu to the men's title.

These are incidentally his first titles in the National Games in his third outing.

The Tamil Nadu star will face Bengal's Anirban Nandi who made a spectacular fightback to beat statemate Sourav Chakraborty 4-11, 3-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-6, 12-10, 11-2 in a marathon seven-setter.

In the women's singles final, Shamini will take on Maharashtra's Madhurika Patkar.

Shamini sailed past Maharashtra's Mamta Prabhu 11-13, 11-4, 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 while Patkar stunned Bengal's Mouma Das 12-10, 11-9, 11-13, 11-4, 11-8.

Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudhe won the gold medal for Maharashtra in the women's doubles as they beat statemates Mamta and Ashlesha Bodas 13-11, 11-8, 11-9.

Both the men's and women's singles title clashes on Saturday will be the last two gold medals that will be on offer on the concluding day.