CWG 2022: Sharath Kamal, Sreeja Akula clinch India’s second gold in Table Tennis with memorable mixed doubles victory

Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula bagged India’s third medal in table tennis at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Sunday.

As the pair beat the Malaysian combination of Choong Javen and Lyne Karen 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6 to clinch the elusive gold medal in mixed doubles final.

This was also Sharath Kamal’s third medal at the CWG 2022 after a gold in men’s team event and silver in men’s doubles alongside Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.

Meanwhile, the Singapore pair of Chew Zhe Yu Clarence and Zeng Jian picked up the bronze medal after they defeated Australia’s Lum Nicholas and Jee Minhyung 11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 14-12 in the third-place tie.

This was Sharath Kamal’s first ever gold-medal win in a mixed doubles event in his illustrious career while for young Sreeja, she had bagged the elusive medal in her maiden appearance at the CWG.

Earlier in the evening, Sreeja suffered a heartbreaking loss in the women’s singles bronze-medal tie as she went down to Australia’s Yangzi Liu 3-4 in a nail-biter of a contest. After scripting a sensational comeback in the sixth game, Sreeja succumbed eventually in the decider to go down 11-3 6-11 2-11 11-7 13-15 11-9 7-11 in a match that lasted more than one and a half hour.

Meanwhile, the duo of Sharath and Sathiyan had to be content with silver for the second consecutive CWG edition after losing 11-8, 8-11, 3-11, 11-7, 4-11 to the defending champions, Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford of England.

In the men’s singles competition, the Indian table tennis legend defied age once again and produced a class act in his 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8 win against Drinkhall to reach his second CWG final. However, Third seed Sathiyan failed to set up an all-Indian final after he lost 5-11, 11-4, 8-11, 9-11, 9-11 to second seed Pitchford