GOLD COAST (Australia) - Singapore paddlers Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu won the Republic's table tennis team's first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games on Friday (April 13) night when they beat India's Manika Batra and Mouma Das 11-5, 11-4, 11-5, at the Oxenford Studios.

The Singapore pair, ranked 13th in the world and the top seeds on the Gold Coast, cruised to a 4-0 lead against their opponents before the Indians scored a point in the first game.

The pattern continued in the second game where Batra's tricky bat-flips were negated by the fact that players have to alternate in the rallies in doubles matches.

The Singaporeans were in control the whole time, trailing only once at 0-1 in the second game before romping to victory easily in the third.

Earlier in the Games, India shocked Singapore to win the women's team event, ending the Republic's unbeaten record in the event since the sport was introduced at the Games in 2002.

Feng told The Straits Times: "I am very happy to win the gold medal today. I may have won many medals in my career but every medal is a challenge and this is especially significant since we lost the women's team gold earlier here."

Yu added: "Because of our loss in the team event, Tianwei and I prepared even harder for this final, especially in terms of strategy and I hope this will bode well for our remaining events here."

Feng and Yu will be back in action in the women's singles semi-finals, and possibly finals, on Saturday, while Yu is also in action with Gao Ning in the mixed doubles semi-finals.