The England men’s team reached the final of the team event in the Commonwealth Games table tennis competition in Delhi today by beating India 3-1.
Paul Drinkhall was the star of the England team, winning both of his matches against Amalraj Anthony and Sharath Kamal Achanta. Andrew Baggaley won his singles to give England a 2-1 lead. England play top seeds Singapore in tomorrow’s final. Singapore beat Nigeria in their semi final this morning.
The final will start at 2.30 pm UK time and is likely to be live on the red button BBC TV tomorrow afternoon.
The scores of the England match were:
Liam Pitchford v Sharath Kamal Achanta 8-11, 4-11, 8-11
Paul Drinkhall v Amalraj Anthony 11-8, 4-11, 11-5, 7-11, 12-10
Andrew Baggaley v Subhajit Saha 11-4, 12-10, 11-8
Paul Drinkhall v Sharath Kamal Achanta 11-9, 11-5, 10-12, 11-4
The England women came very close to winning a bronze medal but were beaten 3-2 by Malaysia this morning. The 3 matches that England lost were all by the closest of margins. The scores were:
Lee Wei Beh v Kelly Sibley 4-11, 11-2, 11-13, 13-11, 11-9
Sock Khim Ng v Joanna Parker 7-11, 11-6, 11-7, 10-12, 11-9
Fan Xiao Jun v Hannah Hicks 10-12, 11-13, 10-12
Lee Wei Behv Joanna Parker 7-11, 4-11, 10-12
Sock Khim Ng v Kelly Sibley 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8
The table tennis singles competition in the Commonwealth Games starts today with most of the British players in the draw. The seeds are as follows:
Men’s Singles:
1. Ning Gao, Singapore
2. Sharath Kamal Achanta, India
3. Zi Yang, Singapore
4. William Henzell, Australia
5. Paul Drinkhall, England
6. Xiaoli Cai, Singapore
7. Arputharaj Amalraj Anthony, India
8. Liang Ma, Singapore
9. Andrerw Baggaley, England
10. Subhajit Saha, India
11. Monday Merotohun, Nigeria
12. Gavin Rumgay, Scotland
13. Abiishek Ravichandran, India
14. Soumyadeep Roy, India
15. Quadri Akinade Aruna, Nigeria
16. Pradeeban Peter-Paul, Canada
Women’s Singles:
1. Tianwei Feng, Singapore
2. Yuegu Wang, Singapore
3. Beibei Sun, Singapore
4. Mengyu Yu, Singapore
5. Jiawei Li, Singapore
6. Lee Wei Beh, Malaysia
7. Kelly Sibley, England
8. Jian Fang Lay, Australia
9. Mo Zhang, Canada
10. Joanna Parker, England
11. Miao Miao, Australia
12. Karen Li, New Zealand
13. Mouma Das, India
14. Madhurika Patkar, India
15. Sock Khim Ng, Malaysia
16. Na Liu, Northern Ireland
In addition to the men’s and women’s singles, there is a singles competition for Women’s Wheelchair where England have two competitors – Hannah Coulthurst from Wakefield and Leanne Stephen from Grimsby.
Full results and articles about the Commonwealth Games table tennis championships can be found on the ITTF website which is www.ittf.com
Both show court tables are being covered throughout each day and it can be anticipated that the BBC will broadcast several of the individual matches in which the British players compete throughout next week. The women’s singles final is on Wednesday and the men’s singles final is on Thursday.