CWG 2022: Triple Delight for Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra Out Of Singles

Ace Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal put up a sensational show to progress to the semifinals of two events and the quarter-final of one event events in the table tennis competition of the Commonwealth Games on Friday. The record nine-time national champion, who has as many as 10 CWG medals to his name, entered the men's singles quarter-finals after beating Nigeria's Olajide Omotayo 4-2 in a thrilling contest. Sharath, 40, also reached the semifinals of mixed and men's doubles competition along with his respective partners.

He first paired up with young Sreeja Akula to stun two-time silver medallists Liam Pitchford and Tin-Tin Ho of England 3-2 (11-7 8-11 11-8 11-13 11-9) in mixed doubles quarters and then combined with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran to beat another English pair of Tom Jarvis and Sam Walker 3-0 (11-6 11-8 11-4) in men's doubles event.

Sreeja too dished out superlative performances to progress to the women's singles semifinals to go with her mixed doubles performance.

The 24-year-old from Hyderabad showed nerves of steel as she scripted a sensational come-from-behind 4-3 win over Mo Zhang of Canada to advance to the semifinals.

She beat Zhang 9-11 11-4 6-11 9-11 11-5 11-4 11-8 in her quarterfinal match.

Gnanasekaran also reached the men's singles quarters, beating Nicholas Lum 4-2 at the NEC Hall.

Sreeja and Sharath had earlier come from behind to beat Malaysia's Leond Chee Fang and Ho Ying 5-11 11-2 11-6 11-5, while Sharath and Gnanasekaran eased past Bangladesh's Bawm Ramhimlian and Ridoy Mohutasin Ahmed 11-6 11-1 11-4 in their round of 16 clash.

Defending champion Manika Batra, however, had a bad day as she suffered a 0-4 defeat against Jian Zeng of Singapore in the women's singles quarterfinal to bow out of