India's top paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal booked a semi-final berth in the men's singles competition at the Commonwealth Games by beating Xiao Li Cai of Singapore in Melbourne on Friday.
Sharath, the third seed in the tournament, thus avenged the loss inflicted by Li Cai in the men's team event final.
The Indian was quick off the blocks taking the first three games 11-3, 13-11, 11-8, before the Singaporean came back to win the next two games 11-5, 11-7.
Sharath, however, sealed the outcome by winning the sixth game 11-7.
Sharath has a tough task ahead as he faces Nigeria's Segun Toriola in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Segun has defeated Sharath twice in as many meetings, which include one in the semi-finals of the team event here.
"We both are attacking players but Segun is in good form and he has beaten me in the semi-finals here. I will have to play my best to beat him," Sharath said.
Australia's William Henzell and Adam Robertson of Wales will clash in the other semi-final.
"I am confident of winning the gold once I make it to the final because I have beaten both of them [semi-finalists] earlier," Sharath said.
"I am satisfied with the way I playing at the moment. He [Li] is a good player. I was leading today but lost two games in a row. However, I was able to pull through," he said.
But Commonwealth champion Sharath, pairing up with Soumyadeep Roy, failed to make it to the semi-finals of the men's doubles losing 8-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6, 4-11 to Andrew Baggaley and Andrew Rushton of England.
India's challenge ended in the women's doubles also with Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das going down 11-9, 13-15, 10-12, 13-11, 10-12 to Annie Yang and Karen Jin Li of New Zealand.
