Glasgow:A Sharath Kamal and Anthony Amalraj assured India of its first table tennis medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games by reaching the men's doubles final here today.
The duo blanked Singapore's Yang Zi and Zhan Jian 11-7 12-10 11-3 in the semifinals at the Scotstoun Sports Campus. Kamal and Amalraj will meet the mighty Singaporean pair of Gao Ning and Li Hu in the gold medal match later today.
Kamal had won the doubles gold alongside Subhajit Saha at the Delhi Games four years ago. In the men's singles, Kamal reached the quarterfinals
beating Nigeria veteran Segun Toriola 11-5 11-6 11-7 11-4. The World No.44 next faces Paul Drinkhall of England later today.
21-year-old Soumyajit Ghosh scripted one of the biggest wins of his career by surprising World No.76 Li Hu 11-5 2-11 11-8 11-8 11-9 in the third round. The 129th-ranked Indian will take on the talented Liam Pitchford of England in the quarterfinals.
"It was a good match for me, something which will give me a lot of confidence going into the quarterfinals. I have never played against Liam. He is a good player and we will see how it goes," Ghosh told PTI.
India's foreign coach Peter Engel added: "Ghosh played very well. Li Hu was tense and Ghosh capitalised on that. We were also lucky for the first time in this tournament."
Ghosh's contemporary Harmeet Desai, however, went down to Zhan Jian in four straight games. India failed to win a medal in the team championships for the first time in the quadrennial event. It had won a record five medals in Delhi.
