Melbourne: A. Sharath Kamal kept India's medal hopes alive, edging past Singapore's Li Xiao Cai 4-2 to move into the men's semifinals of the table tennis competition at the Commonwealth Games here on Friday.

Sharath quelled a spirited challenge from the fancied Cai in a tough quarterfinal. Sharath, the architect of India's gold medal win in the team event, was in top form and ran up a 3-0 lead. However, he lost his concentration and allowed his rival to get back into the match.

Cai took the fourth and fifth games to make it 2-3, but Sharath rallied superbly in the sixth to clinch a semifinal spot. Sharath won 11-3, 13-11, 11-8, 5-11, 7-11, 11-7.

In the women doubles quarterfinals, Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak went down fighting to New Zealand's Karen Li and Annie Yang 3-2. The Indian pair won the first game, but lost the next two. They battled hard to clinch the fourth 13-11 and levelled the match 2-2.

However, in the decider, Mouma and Poulomi made too many unforced errors and let the contest slip out of their hands.

In the quarterfinals of the men's doubles, the Indian duo of Sharath Kamal and Soumyadeep Roy was defeated by the English pair of Andrew Baggaley and Andrew Rushton 3-2.

Wong begins well

In badminton, the fourth-seeded Chetan Anand waged a grim battle against World No. 9 Choong Wong of Malaysia before going down 2-1 in the semifinals which lasted 57 minutes.

Wong, a left-hander, played aggressively in the first game, not allowing Chetan to settle down. The Malaysian attacked from the flanks and exposed the chinks in the Indian's armour.

Wong also defended well and Chetan found hard to get past him. Most of the long rallies ended in the Malaysian's favour and he went for the kill whenever the Indian was close to the net or in the middle of the court. Chetan could not comprehend Wong's game and lost 21-11.

In the second game, the Indian trailed 2-9 and 7-12, but regrouped and reeled off four points in a row to make it 11-12. It was a neck and neck from then on and the Indian squared the game at 17 and even overtook the Malaysian.

At this crucial moment, Wong conceded a negative point and the fourth-seeded Indian immediately made it 20-17. At game point, Chetan's close placement at the net was returned by Wong but the referee awarded the point and game to the Indian. This game lasted 22 minutes.

Losing momentum

Chetan, however, failed to sustain the momentum in the third game and Wong raced ahead 15-5. Though the Indian won two points at the net and fought well, the Malaysian enjoyed a 17-13 lead.

There was a long rally at this point, but Chetan committed a forehand error to concede the point. Wong then wrapped up the game and match without fuss.

The women's doubles pair of Trupti Murgunde and Sania Nehwal lost tamely against the top-seeded Malaysian duo of Hui Eei Chin and Tty Pei Wong in the semifinals. The Malaysians justified their ranking, thrashing the Indians 21-8, 21-3 in just 16 minutes.

Earlier, National champion Anup Sridhar put up a tough fight against top seed and World No. 2 Wei Chong Lee of Malaysia in the quarterfinals before bowing out.

Anup slugged it out for 37 minutes, but Lee proved too strong for him and won 21-15, 21-18.

Olympian Aparna Popat also lost her quarterfinals to the unheralded Alice Elizabeth Cann of Jersey 21-13, 21-15 in 28 minutes. — UNI

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