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The Indian duo of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran lose to England’s Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford in the final of the men’s doubles table tennis event and settled for a silver. Kamal and Gnanasekaran started off the final with a quick 6-3 lead but saw some resistance from the English pair as they came back 8-7. But Indians prevailed and won the first game 11-8.

In the second game, Drinkhall and Pitchford got to a speedy 6-1 start and dominated India through and through. But Indians gradually chipped away at the lead and registered four straight points to make the score 6-5. But still, the English duo kept Kamal and Gnanasekaran under pressure and won the second game 11-8 to an overall score of 1-1. 

England built on their momentum and took another quick 3-0 lead. The Indian pair tried rallying back but Drinkhall and Pitchford surged ahead as they took the score to 9-3. Moments later they won the third game 11-3. In the do-or-die fourth game, both teams put their best foot forward as the scores were level at 3-3. 

But with some intense back and forth, the Indian duo surged ahead to take a 9-5 lead and won the game 11-7. The last game of the final, once again got off to another nail-biting start as the scores were tied at 3-3. But continuing their dream form, the English duo took a sudden 7-4 lead and edged closer to their gold. Drinkhall and Pitchford then dominated the Indians as they won the game 11-4 and clinched the gold for England.

The Indian table tennis contingent at 2022 CWG has produced some incredible performances which have led to medals. Similarly, the squad now has some incredible players who have proven the world that they are capable of hanging with superstars of the international stage.

Before the games in Birmingham, this was the motive of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran as considers this event as the pitstop for the 2024 Olympics. 

He said, "Manika and I have combined well. We are surprised that in such a short time we could climb up to number six in the world (in mixed doubles). We know we have the potential but this exponential rise is surprising and also encouraging. We want to break into the top-four before the Paris Olympics."