Glasgow: Veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal still remains India's brightest table tennis star among all the other paddlers as he led from the front to come out on top in both singles and doubles categories at the Commowealth Games on Friday.
To start with, Sharath and Anthony Amalraj earned a facile 11-7, 12-10, 11-3 win over Singapore's Zi Yang and Jian Khan in the semi-finals to enter the men's doubles final at the Scotstoun Sports Campus.
With the win, the pair have at least assured India another silver from the Games. They will take on another Singaporean pair Ning Gao and Hu Li later in the day for the gold.
Interestingly, it will be a half-repeat of the final four years ago as Sharath, who won the gold with Subhajit Saha in Delhi, will once again face Gao, who took the silver with Yang Zi.
Later, the 32-year-old Sharath recorded an easy 11-5, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 win over Nigeria's Segun Toriola in the Round of 16 followed by a 11-7, 11-6, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6 quarter-final win over England's Paul Drinkhall to enter the men's singles semis.
The 2006 edition champion won the bronze four years ago in the category and will be eyeing another medal this time around when he takes on Zhan on Saturday.
However, it was the end of the road for other Indian paddlers.
Though India's rising star Soumyajit Ghosh defeated Li 11-5, 2-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 in the Round of 16, he later went down to England's Liam Pitchford 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 9-11 in the men's singles quarters.
Earlier, Harmeet Desai also lost his men's singles Round of 16 to Zhan 12-14, 6-11, 10-12, 11-13.
In women's doubles, Shamini Kumaresan and Madhurika Patkar overcame Australians Zhenhua Dederko and Ziyu Zhang 3-2 in the Round of 16 but went down 10-12, 10-12, 11-8, 2-11 in the last eight clash to England's Joanna Drinkhall and Kelly Sibley.
Ankita Das and Paulomi Ghatak also lost their last 16 match to Malaysia's Lee Wei Beh and Soch Khim 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 4-11.
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