Singapore clinch women's
team title, India go down
to Nigeria in men's final

Singapore beat Malaysia 4-1 to clinch the women's team event title for the third consecutive time at the 15th Commonwealth table tennis championships in Delhi, on Tuesday.

Singapore conceded just the first singles to Malaysia, when 13th-ranked and top seed Jing Jun Hong was upset 14-21, 23-21, 22-24 by Yao Linjing.

That was about all for the Malaysians as Singapore registered convincing victories in the rest of the matches.

The tie was held 1-1 after Li Jia Wei beat a shaky Beh Lee Fong 21-10, 21-7, who again lost to a now resurgent Hong in the last singles by the same margin.

Beh Lee Wei failed to build up on a first game win to succumb finally 21-12, 18-21, 14-21 to Tan Paey Fern of Singapore in the third singles tie.

The doubles saw Hong-Wei tandem prevail over Linjing-Wei 21-6, 22-20.

India yet again failed at the last hurdle as they let Nigeria run away with a 4-2 triumph in the final of the men's team event.

A late resurgence from the Indians failed to make up for the lost chances in the earlier matches as they conceded the all-important tie rather tamely to their determined opponent.

Soumyadeep Roy managed to take a game from Toriola Segun, ranked 136th in the world, but was clearly the second best as he lost the first singles 13-21 21-18 13-21.

However, it was 87th-ranked Chetan Baboor who dashed India's chances of a win when he squandered a 14-6 lead in the third game after winning the first comfortably at 21-13 and losing the second at 20-22. Baboor lost the third game with an identical margin after letting his opponent equalise at 17-17 to see Nigeria go 2-0 up.

Indian No 2 S Raman, however, prevented a whitewash when he comfortably defeated his higher ranked opponent Ayemojuba Sau 21-18 21-13 to give India its first victory.

The doubles turned to be another disappointment for the hosts with their crack duo of Raman and Baboor, who are seeking a hat-trick of doubles title in the Open event, lost tamely to Segun and Merotohun Monday 21-18 17-21 13-21.

Just when it looked all over for India, Baboor earned a hard-fought victory when he beat Segun 23-21 17-21 21-17.

Raman sealed India's fate when he lost the last singles to Monday 21-16 24-26 9-21.