The Indian paddlers had a stupendous outing at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. After performing brilliantly in the Team Event, they turned their attention to individual events. The pair of Sharath Kamal/Mouma Das was regarded as one of the top pairs in the Mixed doubles while the pairing of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran/Manika Batra was also expected to do well in the category! 

Both the Indian mixed doubles pair overcome their Round of 32 opponents with ease. Sharath/Mouma defeated the Sinhalese pair of Sirisen Rohan/Madurangi Ishara 3-1 while Sathiyan/Manika downed Leong Chee Feng/Ho Ying of Malaysia with a score of 3-0.

In the Round of 16, Sharath/Mouma continued their domination by defeating David McBeath/ Kelly Sibley 3-0 while Sathiyan/Manika had to work hard to overcome the Canadian pair of Marko Medjugorac/Alicia Cote 3-2.

The quarterfinal matches were tackled with ease by Sharath/Mouma as they beat Canada’s Zhen Wang/Mo Zhang 3-1. Sathiyan/Manika also won without breaking any sweat and beat Singapore’s Jie Xue Pang/Yihan Zhou 3-0.

The real test for the Indian pairs came in the Semis, where Sharath/Mouma faced off with Singapore’s Ning Gao/Mengyu Yu while Sathiyan/Manika came face to face with England’s Liam Pitchford/Tin-Tin HO.

Both the Indian pairs gave their best and made their opponents work for each and every point, but ultimately went down with identical score lines of 2-3.

The semifinal results surely dealt a blow to the Indian hopes of securing another Gold in Table Tennis, but it also ensured that Indian will win a medal in the Mixed Doubles category. 

The experienced duo of Mouma Das & Sharath Kamal took on the next generation paddlers Manika Batra & Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.

This game also gave the TT fans, back in India, to judge whether Sathiyan/Manika had the mettle to take over the responsibility from Sharath/Mouma, of taking the sport to new heights on the International Circuit.

And they did not disappoint!

The youngsters took charge of the match by taking up the first game 11-6. Showing no signs of nervousness in front of the experienced duo of Das & Kamal, Batra & Sathiyan also won the second game comfortably take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Sensing that the Bronze Medal is now within reach, Manika Batra & Sathiyan Gnanasekaran left no stone unturned and defeated Mouma Das and Sharath Kamal in straight games. They took the third game 11-4 and showcased complete domination over their opponents. Sharath/Mouma may have lost the tie, but they would have also felt a sense of relief, knowing that the future of Indian Table Tennis is in the safe and capable hands of Sathiyan/Manika!