Represented by the powerful trio of Gao Ning, Yang Zi and Cai Xiao Li; Singapore retained their Men’s Team crown at the Commonwealth Championships in Glasgow on Friday 22nd May 2009.

In so doing they emulated the efforts of their female compatriots some two hours earlier.

At the final hurdle they beat the Indian team of Sharath Kamal Achanta, Sourav Chakroborty and Subhajit Saha by three matches to one. The success in Jaipur, two years earlier, was the one previous occasion that Singapore had secured gold in the Men’s Team competition.

Backbone
Gao Ning proved the backbone of success; he beat Sourav Chakroborty in the contest which started the fixture and Sharath Kamal Achanta in the duel that brought proceedings to an end.

He won both matches in straight games being too fast for his adversaries; his ability to attack quickly over the table was of paramount importance as he sped to victory.

Master Class
Against Chakroborty he nullified the Indian’s fast forehand whilst in opposition to Achanta he did the same to the powerful forehand of India’s top player.

Gao Ning gave a master class and in so doing maintained his unbeaten record to date in the tournament.

Controversy
Two wins from Gao Ning and one from Cai Xiao Li in a controversial duel against Subhajit Saha. The Indian was faulted three times in the match on his service for not throwing the ball in a sufficiently vertical direction.

The ultra polite, Saha, never complained; the rather less placid Massimo Costantini, the Italian who is now the head coach in India was less than pleased; unable to understand why no other official had queried the service.

Good Behaviour
Great credit must go to the way Saha conducted himself, he maintained his
dignity; he was a credit to country and to the sport of table tennis.

The incidents put poor Cai Xiao Li in the role of the villain but he had done nothing wrong; he too conducted himself magnificently, in the first game informing the umpire that a top spin from Saha had touched the edge of the table when the official believed the ball had flown wide.

Victory went the way of Cai Xiao Li, who after a slow start, recovered his rhythm to win in five games.

Indian Success
The one success for India came from Sharath Kamal Achanta in the second match of the contest.

He beat Yang Zi in five game in duel that had the crowd on the edges of their seats, especially in the crucial decider.

Fifth Game
In the vital fifth game, the Indian established a 7-3 lead; it was puzzling as to why the Singaporeans had not called a “Time Out”. However, Yang Zi recovered, he fought; he levelled at 7-all but then lost the next point.

The Singapore camp called “Time Out”; it was to no avail, Achanta won three of the next four points and was home and dry.

Alas for India it was their only success; gold was in Singaporean hands with silver the lot for India.

Bronze medals
Earlier in the day, England and Wales, having finished in second place in the second stage groups, stood proudly on the medal rostrum as bronze medallists.

Result
SINGAPORE 3-1 INDIA
Gao Ning v Sourav Chakroborty 11-6, 11-6, 11-9
Yang Zi v Sharath Kamal Achanta 8-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-3, 8-11
Cai Xiao Li v Subhajit saha 2-11, 11-2, 11-9, 11-8
Gao Ning v Sharath Kamal Achanta 11-8, 11-9, 11-2