India begin Commonwealth TT on a bright note

Hosts India made a bright start to their campaign at the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, topping their groups to qualify for the Super Eight stage in both men's and women's team events here Wednesday.

The domination of Indian paddlers was such that they lost just two games -- one by Achanta Sharath Kamal against Singapore's Zheyu Clarence Chew in the men's event and another by Ayhika Mukherjee against Chamathsara Fernando of Sri Lanka in the women's category.

The team management kept faith in the threesome of Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai, who did their job pretty well to first beat Scotland 3-0 and then follow it up with a similar verdict against Singapore.

In the women's event, India tried out their bench strength with different combinations in the two group matches.

Manika Batra and Ayhika Mukherjee, who played against Sri Lanka posting a 3-0 triumph in the company of Archana Kamath, were rested for the match against South Africa.

Instead, Madurika ...