Sharath Kamal and Akula Sreeja won India’s first mixed doubles gold medal at Commonwealth Games A, defeating Malaysian giant-killers Javen Choong and Karen Lyne in the final. By defeating the giant-killer Malaysian combination of Javen Choong and Karen Lyne in Birmingham on Sunday night, Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula earned India its first-ever Commonwealth Games mixed doubles gold medal and the second table tennis gold in Birmingham.
Sharath and Sreeja extended their tournament winning streak to 11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6 over Choong and Lyne, who had previously defeated pre-tournament favourites G. Sathiyan and Manika Batra.
GOLD FOR SHARATH AND SREEJA 🔥
🇮🇳's dynamic #TableTennis Mixed Doubles 🏓pair – the young sensation #SreejaAkula & the evergreen @sharathkamal1 team up to clinch the GOLD 🥇 at #CommonwealthGames2022
🇮🇳 wins 3-1 against 🇲🇾 in the XD final
A pairing to remember! 🤩#Cheer4India pic.twitter.com/oFRtlnOOjQ
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) August 7, 2022
India’s men’s team, led by Sharath, had previously won the team championship.
Sharath, who had earlier reached the men’s singles final despite finishing second in the men’s doubles category with Sathiyan, is now on track for a treble-gold medal haul.
Sreeja, the star of India’s women paddlers this week, received a well-deserved medal on top of the podium to cap off a fantastic week. Sreeja overcame her sadness in the singles bronze medal playoff and shined in the final match of the day with her strong forehand wins.
Sharath lets Sreeja take the spotlight
Sharath, who had already played two sets that day, was content to let Sreeja take centre stage and chipped in consistently against a rather inexperienced partnership.
Earlier in the evening, Sharath defeated England’s Paul Drinkhall in six hard-fought games in the men’s singles semifinal, while Sathiyan fell to England No. 1 Liam Pitchford.
Pitchford was too aggressive and fast for Sathiyan, who was found wanting on numerous fronts in the semifinal. While Sharath will face Pitchford in the final on Monday, Sathiyan will want to clinch his first CWG medal by overcoming Drinkhall in the bronze medal playoff.
