Shillong, February 9: The Indian superiority came to the fore when their paddlers entered all five finals of table tennis as their men, women made a light work against their opponents in singles, doubles and mixed doubles events in the South Asian Games at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here this evening.

In the mixed doubles event, second-seed duo of Anthony Amalraj and Manika Batra defeated the top-seeded pair of G. Sathiyan and Mouma Das 3-2 (11-5, 4-11, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10) in the tough final that kept spectators glued to their seat edges.

Both Sathiyan and Mouma had sewn up their chances and were on gold-medal point but squandered it allowing the other Indian pair to win gold. Nevertheless, they won silver to keep the hosts target intact.

The fortunes in the final swung from one extreme to another as the lead kept changing by the game as the two squads took the issue to the decider. There was hardly a couple of points separated each other but a few net errors at the crucial juncture helped Amalraj and Manika clinch it in their favour.

Earlier in the evening, Mouma Das and Sathiyan defeated Sri Lanka’s Udaya Ranasinghe and Ruvini Kannangura 11-7, 10-12, 13-11, 11-6 in a tough battle and the other Indian pair of Anthony Amalraj and Manika Batra accounted for second Sri Lankan duo of Rohan Sirisena and Ishara Madhurangi after dropping a game at 11-4, 11-13, 11-6, 11-5.

Gold-silver contests

In what has turned out to all-India finals, G. Sathiyan will take on in the men’s singles final Anthony Amalraj, while it will be Manika Batra versus Mouma Das in the women’s singles final. As for the men’s doubles final, it will be between Anthony Amalraj-Sanil Shetty combine and G. Sathiyan and Devesh Karia and in the women’s double the top-seeded pair of K. Shamini and Mouma Das will clash with the second-seeded pair of Pooja Sahasrabuddhe and Manika Batra. All the four finals will be played tomorrow.

In men’s singles first semifinal, Sathiyan expected defeated Sri Lanka’s Udaya Ranasinghe 11-5, 14-12, 12-10, 11-6 but had to face some stiff resistance from his Sri Lankan teenager who is shaping up as a good paddler. But for his right exposures, Udaya would have given even a better showing at the Games here.

In the second semifinal, Amalraj beat Rohan Sirisena in straight games of 11-9, 11-4, 11-3, 11-7 for a final showdown against Sathiyan tomorrow. The match failed to any thrill which the earlier semifinal provided as the Indian was not only too strong but much faster against the hapless Sri Lankan.

As for women’s singles semifinal, Manika Batra was made to work a little more than expected when she defeated Sri Lanka’s Ishara Madhurangi as the Indian won 4-1 (12-10, 9-11, 11-2, 11-5, 11-8) while Mouma had an easy semifinal prey in another Sri Lankan Ruvini Kannangura 4-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-3, 11-7) in double quick time. Both the Indians will meet in the final tomorrow.

Double whammy

In men’s doubles semifinals, the Anthony Amalraj and Sanil Shetty versus Rohan Sirisena and Chameern Ginge or, for that matter, the one between G. Sathiyan and Devesh Karia against Udaya Ranasinghe and Nirmala Jayasinghe, both had turned out to be clearly a one-sided affair with the Indians demolishing the Sri Lankan pairs in straight games of 3-0. Amalraj and Shetty beat Sirisena and Ginge 11-8, 14-12, 11-9 while Sathiyana and Karia beat Udaya and Nirmala 11-7, 11-4, 11-4.

In women’s doubles, Mouma and Shamini downed Nepalese pairof Nabita Shrestha and Elina Maharjan 11-4, 11-6, 11-7 and Pooja Sahasrabudhe and Manika Batravs beat Ishara Madhurangi and Erandi Warusawithana of Sri Lanka 12-10, 119, 11-4 in the second semifinal.