World Table Tennis Team Championship: Indian teams bag historic golds

The Indian men’s and women’s teams scripted history by clinching gold medals at the World Table Tennis Team Championship in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

The women beat Luxemburg 3-1 in the final of the Second Division, while their male counterparts overcame Brazil 3-2.

India had sealed an entry into the Champions Division on Friday night after reaching the finals.

Incidentally, this was the first time ever that the women’s team kept a clean slate — eight wins — in the first and the second stages. The men, on the other hand, bounced back after losing their only group match against Nigeria to achieve the exceptional honours.

In the women’s team final, Mouma Das gave a winning start to her team when she defeated Danielle Konsbruck 3-0.

Manika Batra then put behind Friday’s loss and began with a bang, leading 2-0 against Tessy Gonderinger, who managed to grab the third game. However, Manika clinched the fourth game 3-1 to provide India a 2-0 lead. Despite the cushion, K. Shamini was unable to take advantage and lost her singles to Sarah De Nutte in straight games but Manika beat Danielle 3-0 in the reverse singles to wrap a memorable win for India.

“It was a great experience for all of us. We will remember this feat at KL for a long time to come,” said Manika after completing the win.

“I am happy I started well and our combined efforts and consistency throughout have paid us dividends,” added Mouma.

In the men’s team final, Harmeet Desai hogged the limelight as India eked out a narrow win.

With two hard-fought wins on Friday, the team management decided to rest Achanta Sharath Kamal in the final against Brazil. It seemed to be a wrong decision with India trailing 1-2 despite Harmeet pulling one back after Soumyajit Ghosh lost the opening rubber.

Worse was to come when Anthony Amalraj, who led 2-1 in the third rubber, went down to Thiago Monterio, putting India in a precarious position. However, Ghosh made amends with a clear 3-0 win over Cazuo Matsumoto to keep hopes alive.