Attacking with equal severity from both backhand and forehand, India’s 27 year old Subhajit Saha was the player to cause the major upset in the Men’s Singles event at the Commonwealth Championships in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Sunday 24th May 2009.

In the second round, he beat Singapore’s Yang Zi, the no.2 seed, in five games.

It was a contest in which he recovered from an opening game deficit to secure a quarter-final place against England’s Darius Knight, a man who returning to form.

Knight who had beaten Adam Robertson of Wales in a gruelling seven games encounter, was understandably the crowd’s favourite in his quarter-final duel against the Indian star.

However, the quiet and supremely well mannered visitor from Asia won the hearts of the spectators.

In the first game he was warned for his service action, the ball arguably not being thrown at a sufficiently vertical angle, a service on which he had been faulted three times in the Men’s Team final.

Saha, to his credit, never queried the warning, he heeded the warning and his service action was never queried again.

Furthermore, in the fourth game, leading by three games to nil and with the scores level at 10-all, the umpire awarded the point to Saha. Everyone watching believed it was the correct decision, Knight never queried the verdict and stood at match point down.

Subhajit Saha, to his eternal credit, informed the umpire that the ball had touched, the faintest of touches; the point was awarded to Knight. The Englishman went on to win the game before Saha ended matters in the fifth.

The sportsmanship earned the Indian star the applause and respect of all present in the Scotstoun Leisure Centre.

It was a magnificent gesture from a player who is the last man on earth to be involved in controversy but in Glasgow he appears to be becoming the innocent victim.

In the fifth game he caught the edge of the racket on the table, the rubber was slightly damaged, the umpire called for the Referee; Stuart Sherlock came to the side of the court, examined the racket and allowed Saha to continue.

Common sense had thankfully prevailed, the Indian star went on to win the game and his success was warmly greeted by the crowd whom through his model attitude and demeanour had won them over.

Success for Saha and it means guaranteed silver and bronze medals for India; at the semi-final stage, Saha meets compatriot and third seed, Sharath Kamal Achanta who overcame England’s Andrew Rushton and Canada’s Pradeeban Peter-Paul to book his penultimate round place.

Meanwhile, in the top half of the draw, Singapore’s Gao Ning, the no.1 seed, meets England’s Paul Drinkhall, seeded no.4.

Gao Ning overcame Canada’s Pierre-Luc Hinse and India’s Sourav Chakroborty whilst Paul Drinkhall ended the hopes of Welshman, Ryan Jenkins and India’s Amalraj Aputhraj Anthony.

Image by Ayoade Ademakinwa