Baboor-Raman lose in doubles final

Chetan Baboor and S Raman lost to the English pair of Terry Young and Alex Perry 21-10, 22-24, 18-21 in the final of the men's doubles in the 15th Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in New Delhi on Thursday.

Baboor, however, kept India's flag flying high as he stormed into the semi-finals of the men's singles.

Second seeded Baboor defeated seventh-seed Alex Perry of England 21-18, 21-9, 21-7, but his teammate S Raman went down tamely to top seed Syed Matthew of England 7-21, 6-21, 8-21 in under 20 minutes in another quarter-final.

Baboor will take on third-seed Toriola Segun of Nigeria, who defeated sixth-seed Zhang Tai Yong of Singapore 21-11, 21-17, 21-12, in the semi-finals on Friday.

In the other quarter-final, Gareth Herbert of England defeated Li Aaron of New Zealand 26-24, 21-18, 21-12 to book a berth in the semis.

In an all-Singapore affair, top-seeds Jing Jun Hong and Li Jia Wei defeated Zhang Xue Ling and Tan Paey Fern 22-20, 24-22 to clinch the women's doubles title.

Earlier, Baboor and Raman stayed on course for a third consecutive title after storming into the final of the men's doubles.

However, the Indian challenge ended in the women's section with the defeat of Poulami Ghatak and Mouma Das in the singles pre-quarter-finals.

The second seed pair of Baboor and Raman demolished the sixth-seed combination of Cai Xiao Li/Sen Yew Fai 21-6, 21-15 in just 20 minutes to move into the final, which will be played on Thursday night. They take on English duo of Terry Young and Alex Perry, who upset the top seed pair of Duan Yong Jun and Zhang Tai Yong 21-17, 21-17 in the other semi-final.

Baboor and Raman had earlier in the day cruised into the quarter-finals of the men's singles, but national champion Soumyadeep Roy, who had shocked fifth seed Terry Young in the third round on Wednesday was halted in the pre-quarters by Li Aaron of New Zealand. He lost 13-21, 8-21, 18-21.

Raman upset eighth seed Peter Jackson of New Zealand 21-16, 13-21, 22-20, 21-13 while Baboor beat Cai Xiao Li of Singapore 21-19, 17-21, 21-16, 21-17.

Raman will now take on top-seed Syed Matthew of England, who toyed with Ayemojuba Sau of Nigeria to win 21-8, 21-7, 21-14, while second-seed Baboor plays seventh-seed Alex Perry of England.

India's top women's players Poulami Ghatak and Mouma Das lost in straight games in the pre-quarters.

Poulami lost to top-seed Li Jia Wei of Singapore 14-21, 14-21, 10-21, while Mouma Das went down to fourth-seed Malaysian Yao Ling Jing 10-21, 11-21, 12-21.

India's hopes were also dashed in the women's doubles with the pair of Poulami and Mouma losing to top-seed tandem of Jing Jun Hong and Li Jia Wei of Singapore 12-21, 10-21.

The other duo of Anandita Chakraborty and Montu Ghosh managed to take the first game off second-seed Zhang Xue Ling and Tan Paey Fern of Singapore before losing 9-21, 21-11, 21-10.

However, two Indian pairs made it to the mixed doubles quarter-finals. Soumyadeep Roy and Montu Ghosh defeated Ryan Jen Kins and Bethan Daunton of Wales 21-17, 19-21, 21-17 while Chetan Baboor teamed up with Poulami Ghatak to defeat compatriots Arjun Dutta and Sushmita Roy 21-15, 21-14.