Ultimate Table Tennis League: Goa Challengers reach finals; Captain Harmeet Desai in good mood

Goa Challengers captain Harmeet Desai celebrates with teammates after winning the semi-final in Chennai on Thursday (September 5, 2024) | Photo Credit: R. Ragu

Goa Challengers captain Harmeet Desai appeared in good mood in the mixed zone while speaking to the media in Chennai on Thursday (September 5, 2024) after his side registered a comfortable 8-4 win over table toppers Bengaluru Smashers in the semi-finals of the Ultimate Table Tennis League.

According to Harmeet, one of the reasons for the Smashers’ loss was that they were unable to make a comeback, as they had come through easily in all their previous encounters. “In the qualification (league match), we struggled a bit. We knew how to get out of it. On the other hand, for the Smashers, it was the first time they were trailing 4-0 or 5-2. It was a new situation, and they didn’t know how to get out of it. We were more experienced in this situation.”

Harmeet praised Italy’s Mihai Bobocica and Australia’s Yangjie Liu, who gave the Challengers a solid start by winning the first two singles. “The way Bobo and Yangjie started, beating Alvaro Robles and Manika Batra, was fantastic. They were both in a very good position. This gave me a lot of confidence going into the match against Jeet Chandra. Also, it was important that we got a point in the mixed doubles match. So, in the fourth match, Jeet was under pressure as the team was trailing by 4-5 points. My strategy was to play aggressively and it worked. I just wanted to play with all my might and put a lot of pressure on her.”

Harmeet admitted there will be pressure but said his team will take the final as just another match. This is the first time a team will be defending the title. “We will take the next match as a normal match. We will not think too much about winning the title. There will be pressure. We will face one of the two toughest teams (Dabang Delhi will take on Ahmedabad SG Pipers in the other semi-final on Friday) against whom we lost in the league. We know how strong they are. We will continue the momentum we have maintained in the last three matches. We have a very good team. We can win (Saturday’s final). Last time too we finished fourth after the league ended but beat the No. 1 team in the final.”

Harmeet said UTT has always produced some very good players and this year has been no different. “Every year we see more than one promising player emerging. This time we have Ankur (Bhattacharya), Yash (Yashaswini Ghorpade) and Nityashree Mani. UTT is a platform where players can come and showcase their skills. The number of players will only increase and this is good for Indian TT,” he said.