Paddlers give India first gold medal

New Delhi: The table tennis squad gifted India their first gold medals of the 3rd Lusofonia Games in Goa with both men and women paddlers living up to their top billing.

The men defeated Portugal 3-1, while their women blanked their European opponents 3-0 to claim the team gold medals.

The men’s team started badly after Soumyajit Ghosh lost to Diogo Silva. But Anthony Amal Raj gave India the advantage by defeating Jorge after being 0-2 down. Amal Raj played a great game, attacking on both flanks despite having lost the first two games. In the second game, Amal Raj was down 0-9 but picked up well to score seven straight points before losing the game at 7-11.

In the fourth match, Soumyajit Ghosh defeated Andre Silva 3-1 (7-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-6) to put the issue beyond Portugal’s reach. Earlier, Harmeet Desai came back well against Andre Silva to give India 1-0 lead.

The women’s event was a one-sided issue with K. Shamini accounting for Joana Mota 3-1, Anikita Das then beating Raquel Andrade 3-0 while Madhurika Patkar scored a 3-0 win over Joana Fins.

In volleyball, the hosts took gold in both men’s and women’s sections. The men beat Macau 25-15,?25-13, 25-16 while the women got past Mozambique 25-20, 25-12, 25-14.