Ankur came back from a game down to go all the way.
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
Ankur Bhattacharjee and Yashaswini Ghorpade emerged as the men’s and women’s singles champions as India capped a dominant campaign by winning four of the five gold medals at the 22nd Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex here on Sunday.The men’s final, featuring two of the brightest prospects in Indian table tennis, lived up to the expectations. In a pulsating 70-minute contest, Ankur staged a stirring comeback to overcome Payas Jain, making a strong statement after narrowly missing out on a place in India’s Asian Games squad.Yashaswini, meanwhile, added a major title to her growing resume by defeating the fancied Sreeja Akula. Both the finalists had been pushed to the limit in the semifinals earlier in the day. Yashaswini had edged teenager Syndrela Das 11-9 in the deciding game, while Sreeja had survived an equally stern examination from Olympian Sutirtha Mukherjee to win by the same margin.The draining last-four match, however, left little trace on Yashaswini. She quickly settled into the final, repeatedly finding the mark with her forehand topspins to deny Sreeja any rhythm. The victory served as redemption after she and Divyanshi Bhowmick had gone down to Sreeja and Syndrela in the women’s doubles summit clash earlier on Sunday.
