India’s next superstar, Manika Batra, created history by becoming the first Indian woman Table Tennis player to win a singles gold at the Commonwealth Games. Manika defeated Yu Mengyu of Singapore 4-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-2, 11-7) in a one-sided final. On the way to the final, she won a hard-fought battle against multiple Olympic medallist, Feng Tianwei 4-3 (12-10, 5-11, 11-8, 5-11, 5-11, 11-9, 13-11). By defeating Feng in the semi-final, she proved that her win against the World No. 4 in the team event final was no fluke.
India had already won gold in the Men’s and Women’s team event by defeating Nigeria and Singapore respectively.
Besides guiding India to team gold, Batra had paired up with veteran Mouma Das to win the country’s maiden Women’s Doubles silver. They fought hard before going down against defending champions from Singapore Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu to settle for a silver medal. Prior to the final, India’s best showing in women’s doubles came back in 2010 when Das and Poloumi Ghatak had secured bronze.
Three-time CWG gold medallist Sharath Achanta played in the Men’s Doubles final alongside Gnanasekhanran Sathyan but lost to the English pair of Liam Pitchford and Paul Drinkhall. They settled for a silver. The bronze in men’s doubles also went to India as Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty sailed past Singapore’s Poh Shao Feng Ethan and Pang Yew En Koen 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 12-10).