Indian women paddlers lose bronze medal match

Glasgow, July 27 (IANS) Indian women paddlers missed out on the 2014 Commonwealth Games team bronze medal match, losing to Australia 1-3 at the Scotstoun Table Tennis Centre here Sunday.

India lost the first singles match but won the second to tie the scores 1-1. The 2010 Games silver medallists, however, went on to lose the next doubles and a singles tie to slump to a 1-3 defeat.

India's Shamini Kumaresan lost the first singles match to Ziyu Zhang 5-11, 11-2, 6-11, 9-11.

Manika Batra tied the best-of-five rubber 1-1 by beating Jian Fang Lay in the second singles match 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7.

The 19-year-old had to battle hard after losing the second game but kept her nerve to grab the next two.

Madhurika Suhas Patkar and Kumaresan combine worked extremely hard but in the end failed to get the better of Miao Miao and Jian Fang in the doubles tie. Both teams were equally matched and played some fascinating table tennis.

The Indian pair twice took the lead -- winning the first and third game -- but the Australian team came back strongly each time to bring level the scores at 2-2.

Miao and Jian carried the momentum into the decisive fifth game, taking a 7-4 lead. The Indian duo didn't give up and brought the gap down to 7-8 but the Australian team held on to win the game 11-7 and the match 19-21, 11-3, 9-11, 11-4, 11-7.

In the third singles tie, Ziyu Zhang got the better of Madhurika 3-2 (11-9, 5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9).

After losing the first game, Madhurika won the next two to take a 2-1 lead. But like her teammates, Ziyu refused to give up and won the next two to give Australia the bronze.

The men's table tennis team will take on England in the semi-final, later in the day.