by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager
Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu beat Sutirtha Mukherjee and Pooja Sahasrabudhe, the no.9 seeds, in straight games, the Singaporeans controlled matters from start to finish (11-5, 11-7, 11-6),
“We were a little nervous before the match; it was an important semi-final but we did feel confident; I think from the start we were good in the service and receive game, so that made a big difference. The final will be difficult but we will do our very best.” Feng Tianwei
A most commanding performance, it was the same from Manika Batra and Mouma Das, the no.2 seeds in opposition to surprise semi-finalists Malaysia’s Ho Ying and Karen Lyne (11-4, 11-6, 11-5).
“In 2010 in New Delhi I reached the semi-finals with Poloumi Ghatak so today to reach the final is really something. Manika and myself have been playing together for about a year and a half; we’ve had good results on the World Tour and last year at the World Championships. We watched our opponents yesterday so we were able to prepare our tactics; I use short pimpled rubber on the forehand, Manika uses long pimples on the backhand so it makes quite a good combination.” Mouma Das
Success for India and Singapore in the Women’s Doubles event; it was the very same in the Mixed Doubles quarter-finals.
Singapore’s Gao Ning and Yu Mengyu, the top seeds, beat England’s Sam Walker and Denise Payet, the no.7 seeds (11-4, 11-5, 11-5) and now meet India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta and Mouma Das, the no.3 seeds, in the penultimate round. At the quarter-final stage, Sharath Kamal Achanta and Mouma Das meets Canada’s Eugene Wang and Zhang Mo, the no.7 seeds (11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 11-5).
Meanwhile, in the lower half of the draw, India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra, the no.2 seeds, confront England’s Liam Pitchford and Tin-Tin Ho, the no.4 seeds.
At the quarter-final stage, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra beat Singapore’s Pang Xue Jie and Zhou Yihan, the no.8 seeds (11-6, 12-10, 14-12); Liam Pitchford and Tin-Tin Ho ended the hopes of India’s Sanil Shetty and Madhurika Patkar (6-11, 11-5, 4-11, 11-7, 11-7.
The final and bronze medal matches in the Women’s Doubles event will be played later in the evening; the semi-finals of the Mixed Doubles event are scheduled for Saturday 14th April.
