Indian paddlers finished with a record haul of nine medals -- two silver and seven bronze -- even as Singapore continued its dominance in the 19th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships that concluded here today.
The hosts won one of the silver medals through Soumyajit Ghosh and Mouma Das in the mixed doubles event, the other having won by the men's team earlier in the tournament.
Achanta Sharath Kamal, however, had to settle for a bronze after losing the men's singles semifinal while Mouma Das and Manika Batra claimed bronze in the women's singles.
At least six of the eight semifinals, including doubles, featured host players but none of them could make the summit clash.
The Singaporean paddlers delivered as expected as they claimed gold in the all the categories except for the women's individual competition that witnessed a major upset.
Canada's Mo Zhang pulled off a surprise 4-3 win over Singapore's world no 27 Mengyu Mu. Zhang, who had missed the team championships due to delay in getting visa, astonished Yu as she quickly slipped into a lead 3-0 in the match. The luck clearly favoured the underdog as she collected several net points. She grabbed the opening three games with identical 11-6 margin.
With just a game away from an improbable win, the Canadian girl looked a touch anxious and made several unforced errors. Mengyu showed her experience and fought her way back into the match. She won the next three games to level the tie. In the decider, Zhang won the women's singles crown.
"It was a tough match. I was not nervous because I knew she was a better player. I am happy that I could win my country a gold medal," said Zhang who migrated to Canada from China in 2003.
