Shillong, February 8: Top-seeded and second-seeded Indians, G. Sathiyan and Anthony Amalraj, entered the semifinals of the men’s singles table tennis event in the 12th South Asian Games here today. In women’s singles Manika Batra and Mouma Das, too, joined their men counterparts in the semifinals, keeping their No. 1 and No. 2 seeding intact.

In other words, the Indians are all set to clash with each other in the finals of both categories for the gold medals with silver medals too coming the hosts’ way on Wednesday.

Earlier in Stage 1 matches, the four Indians topped their A and B groups in both sections to enter the quarterfinals.  With only two entries per country allowed, the four Indians were chosen to play the singles on the basis of their ranking as did the other countries as paddlers were divided into four groups of three and four players.

Sathiyan defeaged defeated Faisal Sajad Ali of Pakistan 11-3, 11-5, 11-2, 11-6 in the quarterfinals this evening and he will take on Sri Lanka’s Udaya Ranasinghe in the semifinals tomorrow morning. The Sri Lankan beat Nepal’s Purshottam Bajracharya 12-10, 10-12, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 in a hard-fought quarterfinal. Amalraj, on the other hand, beat Nepal’s Deep Saun 11-7, 12-10, 11-6, 11-5 to earn a semifinal meeting with another Sri Lankan Rohan Sirisena who beat Mostafa Bakhtiyari of Afghanistan in the fourth quarterfinal.

Sathiyan easily beat Munsif Moosa of Maldives and Afghanistan’s Mostafa Bakhtiyari in his group A matches scoring 3-0 triumphs which Amalraj repeated against Manash Choudhury of Bangladesh and Faisal Sajad Ali of Pakistan, in group B matches.

As for the women’s affairs, the top-seeded Manika accounted for Nepal’s Nbita Shrestha 11-5, 11-6, 11-4, 11-4 while Mouma Das defeated Maldives’ Mueena Mohamed 11-6, 11-6, 11-3, 11-4. Like in men’s semifinals, the two Indians will take on Sri Lankans-Manika will play Sri Lanka’s Ishara Madhurangi while Mouma Das will clash with Ruvini Kannangura. The Sri Lankans had accounted for Rahila Kashif of Pakistan (4-2) and Jum Fathimal Nimmal of Maldives (4-0), respectively, in the quarterfinals.

Manika had won her group A matches with 3-0 verdicts in the morning against Mueena Mohamad of Maldives and Afghanistan’s Ashazia Aliqi while Mouma defeated in group B Rahila Kashif of Pakistan and Elina Maharjan of Nepal by the same margins.

Doubles’ treat await hosts

The Indian pairs in men, women and mixed doubles events entered the semifinals and were well on course to make it an Indian affair more sense than one at the table tennis event of the South Asian Games at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here this evening.

In the men’s doubles the pairs of Anthony Amalraj and Sanil Shetty advanced to the last four stages beating their Bangladeshi rivals, Mohammed Zaaved and Mahbub Billah 11-2, 11-8, 11-6 while the hosts’ second combination of G. Sathiyan and Devesh Karia accounted for Pakistan’s Abdul Raheem and Muhammad Rameez 11-9, 11-6, 11-7 in the quarterfinals. The Amalraj-Shetty combine will now take on the doubles squads of Sri Lanka, comprising Rohan Srisena and Chameern Ginge, who beat another Pakistani pair of Asim Qureshi and Mohammad Zaved and Ali Sajad Faisal 3-0 in the quarterfinals while Sathiyan and Karia will meet with Udaya Ranasinghe and Nirmala Jayasinghe, who beat Nepal’s Shiva Gothe and Amar Lal Malla with a 3-2 verdict in a tough quarterfinal, in the second semifinal.

In women’s doubles quarterfinals, Mouma Das and K. Shamini beat Sri Lankans Chamstsara Fernando and Hansani Kapugeekiyana 11-5, 11-6, 11-8. They will take on Nabita Shrestha and Elina Maharjan of Nepal, who beat the Pakistani duo of Shabnam Bilal and Rahila Kashif 3-1. The second Indian pair of Pooja Sahasrabudhe and Manika Batra, too, moved into the semifinals beating Mueena Mohamed and Jumana Fathimal Nimaal of Maldives 11-2, 11-2, 11-3. They will play against the Sri Lankans Ishara Madhurangi and Erandi Warusawithana, who got a walkover from Bangladesh’s Minara Sharmin and Snigaha Sultana.

In the mixed doubles event, Mouma Das and G. Sathiyan combined nicely to enter the semifinal when the pair accounted for Munsif Moosa and Jumana Fathimal Nimaal of Maldives 11-9, 11-5, 11-1 to earn a meeting in the next round against Sri Lanka’s Udaya Ranasinghe and Ruvini Kannangura who beat the Pakistan duo of Asim and Shabnam 3-0. India’s second pair, consisting of Anthony Amalraj and Manika Batra, dropped no sweat to down Pakistan’s Faisal Sajad Ali and Rahila Kashif 11-3, 11-5, 11-4. They will now meet Sri Lankans Rohan Sirisena and Ishara Madhurangi in the semifinals. The Lankans had won against Nepal’s duo of Deep Suan and Nabita Shrestha 3-1.

All semifinals are slated for tomorrow afternoon and the finals will take place on the concluding day of the table tennis events at the Games on Wednesday.