SHILLONG, FEB 8: The Indian men’s table tennis team walked away with the gold medal in the team event of the 12th South Asian Games 2016 with almost the same amount of ease as the women’s team did earlier.
A Amalraj, G Sathiyan and S Shetty beat the Sri Lankan trio of Udaya Ranasinghe, Rohan Srisena and N Jayasinghe in three straight matches to defend their title. National champion Amalraj went first and he faced some resistance from the up and coming Ranasinghe, but he ultimately came through in four games.
Earlier, India overwhelmed Pakistan in three straight matches, while Sri Lanka had a longer road by going the distance before piping a feisty Nepal 3-2 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Sports hall in Shillong.
“It was not such a tough win,” Indian coach Arup Basak said after the medal ceremony. “We are definitely planning for the Olympics and intend to go for the World Championship, which is going to be held in April,” he added.
With these two golds in the bag, Basak also said that his team is aiming for the other five available in the individual events, which begin tomorrow with the women’s singles from 10 am.-By Our Reporter
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