Sathiyan Gnanasekaran added to his medal tally at this year’s Commonwealth Games by winning the bronze medal in the table tennis men’s singles event as he emerged victorious in a close encounter with England’s Paul Drinkhall. He adds to his silver medal with his partner Sharath Kamal Achanta which they won in the men’s doubles event along with mixed team event gold medal.
The match started in exceptional fashion for the Indian as he won the first game by a narrow margin of 11-9. The second game also went in favor of Sathiyan 11-3. And he also took the third game 11-5. Sathiyan sailed into what looked like an unassailable lead against his experienced British opponent.
But Drinkhall fought back in style to clinch the next 3 games 11-8, 11-9 and 12-10 to take the bronze medal match to a seventh and deciding game. Sathiyan started the deciding game in sensational fashion. At 7-1, it looked clear the Indian would win, when Drinkhall came back to level things around. Both players were facing tense moments amongst a packed crowd. It was 9-9 in the decider when Sathiyan won a couple of close rallies to win the deciding game 11-9 and take the bronze medal.
The bronze medal is Sathiyan’s first ever medal at the Commonwealth Games singles event and his sixth Commonwealth medal overall.
Image credit: Twitter/otvnews
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