MELBOURNE: India's Achanta Sharath Kamal beat Australia's William Henzell 11-5, 8-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8 to win gold in the men's singles table tennis event at the Commonwealth Games here on Sunday.

In a classic seven-game thriller, Sharath prevailed in a clash of styles, in front of a vocal crowd at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre, to become the country's first individual gold medal- winning paddler.

``There have been a lot of expectations on me, from my nation, my parents, my coaches,'' admitted Sharath.

``I couldn't sleep last night, I was so nervous and I wasn't feeling so comfortable today. I just said to myself `Just get in there and play your game', and it went well.''

Sharath, who whitewashed defending champion Segun Toriola of Nigeria in the semifinals, roared through the first game, a series of strong forehand smashes seeing him to a comfortable 11-5 win.

But the tall, Chennai-based 23-year-old, his long black hair swept back under a turquoise bandana, saw his dipping cross-table smashes falter in the second game, which Henzell laboured to take 11-8.

Henzell continued to soak up the pressure in the third game, which he won 11-5, content to play a holding game against which Sharath continued to make unforced errors with his aggressive all-or-nothing style of play.

Countering strongly

Henzell began to expose Sharath's propensity for his forehand from all corners of the table at the beginning of the fourth game, but the Indian countered strongly to take the game 11-8 and tie the match at two games apiece.

The fifth game went down to the wire, a real dogfight between the delicate placement of the Australian and the flamboyant attacking shots of Sharath, the Indian ranked 150th in the world eventually running out an 11-8 victor.

The 24-year-old Henzell, who has lived in Sweden since the age of 14 and lost his professional contract with top Swedish club Lyckeby after choosing to represent Australia here, battled back to take game six 11-7.

It all came down to the seventh and final game. Sharath shot into a 4-1 lead, but Henzell immediately clawed four points back thanks to the Indian's wayward smashes.

Sharath continued to force his game, and some very smart returns saw him take the game and gold for India.

``I kept my cool in the seventh game,'' said Sharath. ``At 4-1 up I wanted the game to end, but I reverted to my old strategy of playing slow.

``I'm very happy. In the semifinal I was the underdog against Toriola, but today I was a better player than Henzell.''

In the bronze medal game, Toriola beat Adam Robertson of Wales 7-11, 11-3, 11-8, 8-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-4.

Hail the champions

Meanwhile, the Table Tennis Federation of India has hailed the paddlers who claimed two gold medals and a bronze at the Games while claiming that it showed that the efforts of the TTFI were bearing fruit.

"All the credit for dominating the Commonwealth Games table tennis competition should go to the players and coaches," TTFI president Ajay Singh Chautala said in a statement.

"The results showed that the efforts of the Federation have started paying dividends," he added. — Agencies

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail