CWG' 18: Indian men's table tennis team strike gold

Gold Coast [Australia], April 9 (ANI): A day after the Indian women's table tennis team recorded a major upset in the ongoing 21st Commonwealth Games by beating defending champions Singapore for gold, the men's team emulated them by scooping up the gold medal with a 3-0 win over Nigeria in the finals here on Monday.

India put themselves ahead with the help of Sharath Achanta's 11-5, 11-4, 11-9 win over Bode Abiodun of Nigeria in the men's singles event.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran then doubled his side's lead by bouncing back from the game down to eventually clinch a 10-12, 11-3, 11-3, 11-4 win over Segun Toriola.

In the third match, the Indian pair of Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran swept aside the Nigerian team of Olajide Omotayo and Bode Abiodun 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 to seal the deal for India.

Earlier, India got the better of Singapore after they came back twice from behind to win the contest 3-2 in the semi-finals.

The win for the table tennis men's team came just a day after the Indian women bagged their first-ever gold in the prestigious quadrennial event with a 3-1 victory over four-time gold medallists Singapore .

This is India's ninth gold medal at the 21st edition of the Games

Elsewhere in the Games, Indian sprinter Muhammed Anas Yahiya booked his place in the finals of the men's 400 m event after clocking 45.44 to top Semifinal 3.

In the men's skeet final, shooter Smit Singh bows out of medals race after being eliminated. He shot 15 out of 20 in the final.

Meanwhile, Lalchhanhimi also bowed out of the race to podium in the women's 90kg weightlifting category after her best-registered Clean and Jerk lift of 109kg gave her a combined total lift of 194kg.

In Boxing, India's Manish Kaushik defeated Michael Alexander of Trinidad and Tobago 4-0 in men's 60kg round-of-16, while Gaurav Solanki also entered men's 52kg boxing quarterfinals with a 5-0 unanimous verdict against Ghana's Akimos Annang.

India are now standing at the third spot on the points table with 18 medals in total, including seven in shooting alone. (ANI)