Singapore lived upto their top billing as they pocketed all but one of the four gold medals on offer on the last day at the Sawai Mansingh stadium here.
JAIPUR: Singapore's Gao Ning and Sun Bei Bei overcame the challenge of their teammates to crown themselves men's and women's singles champions on the concluding day of the 17th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship here on Tuesday.
Top seed and world number 18 Gao Ning had little trouble trouncing second seed Yang Zi 6-11 11-7 11-8 11-6 11-7.
But the script unfolded otherwise in the women's section, with top seed Yue Gu Wang going down 3-11 12-10 11-8 7-11 11-13 3-11 to second seed Sun Bei Bei in a thrilling match.
Singapore lived upto their top billing as they pocketed all but one of the four gold medals on offer on the last day at the Sawai Mansingh stadium here.
And the only team which could challenge their superiority was the third seeded Nigerian pair of Monday Merotohun and Nosiru Kazeem who beat top seed Ning and Zi 6-11 11-7 9-11 12-10 11-8 in a thrilling men's doubles final.
The women's doubles final saw no upset as Gu Wang and Bei Bei thrashed Mo Zhang and Sara Yuen of Canada 11-6 11-6 11-4 to bag the title.
Sinagpore had also captured the mixed doules title yesterday with Zi and Wang thrashing Ning and Bei Bei 11-9, 11-7, 11-7. They finished with a staggering tally of six gold out of seven in the championship.
For India, the loss of defending champion Achanta Sharath Kamal's 11-13 10-12 8-11 7-11 loss to Ning in the semifinals drew curtains on their campaign.
India finsihed with a haul of four bronze and a silver medal this time. The bronze came in men's singles, doubles, women's doubles and team event while the only silver came in men's team event.
Singapore caused India's downfall in the men's doubles event too with Shubhajit Saha and Anirban Nandi going down 12-10 2-11 7-11 2-11 to Ning and Zi in the semifinals.
In women's doubles, India's Vishakha Vijay and Sushmita Roy, who reached the semifianls riding on two upset wins, went down to the Canadian pair of Mo Zhang and Yuen Sara 9-11 9-11 11-7 9-11 to win bronze.
The hosts finished with three bronze medals in the individual events.
The scoreline of Sharath's loss to Ning, who had also beaten him in the Indian Open pro tour in Delhi this year, however, does not suggest the way local favourite performed.
Sharath matched Ning shot for shot in the first two games which could have gone anybody's way.
The Tamil Nadu paddler's tactic of playing close to the table and not allowing Ning room to free his arms was working well in the first two games where Sharath enjoyed an upper hand at various moments.
Sharath broke away from 5-5 in the first game and took a two-point lead before Ning fought back.
"I played him much better today but there are still some small details that I need to work out to beat top ranked players," Sharath said after the match.
"It all boils down to taking some risk at crucial moments. But it is easier to say than execute. But I should have won at least one of the first two close games," he added.
Had the outcome of these two games gone Sharath's way, it could have been his day. But Ning was a tough nut to crack and his ploy of making Sharath play at the corner of the table and score points at the other end paid rich dividends.
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