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U Mumba’s Sutirtha Mukherjee plays against Dabang Delhi’s Divya Chitale in the UTT League in Chennai on Saturday. | Photo Credit: R. Raveendran
Debutants Ahmedabad SG Pipers registered their first win in the Ultimate Table Tennis League Season 5 by defeating defending champions Goa Challengers 10-5 on Saturday.
Lilian Bardet performed brilliantly to beat Harmeet Desai 3-0 in the opening men’s singles. Later, world No. 13 Bernadette Szos defeated 19-year-old Yashaswini Ghorpade 11-6, 11-7, 11-3.
Ahmedabad won the mixed doubles match with aplomb. They needed to win just two games to wrap up the match but Manush Shah and Bernadette held off a tough challenge from Harmeet and Yangzi Liu to win 2-1.
Earlier, two-time champions U Mumba, eyeing their maiden title, got off to a perfect start by beating former champions Dabang Delhi 9-6.
Despite G. Sathiyan’s unexpected 2-1 win over World No. 20 Quadri Aruna of U Mumba in the opening men’s singles match, the Dabang could not maintain the momentum and lost three matches in a row: women’s singles (0-3), mixed doubles (1-2) and men’s singles (1-2).
The contest between Sathiyan and Aruna was a treat to watch. The Nigerian outplayed the Indian with her forehand topspin in the first game. However, Sathiyan came back strongly to win the next two games. The dashing paddler did well to neutralise Aruna’s attack with her trademark blocks and forehand winners.
U Mumba’s Sutirtha Mukherjee, a strong and aggressive player, beat Diya Chitale 3-0 in the second match. Diya remained subdued for most of the time and did not allow herself to be dominated in the long rallies. Normally a compact paddler with good strokes on both sides, Diya was erratic and made too many unforced errors. When she tried to make her way back, it was too late.
U Mumba also won the third match, with the mixed doubles pair of Manav Thakkar and Maria Jiao defeating Sathiyan and Orawan Paranang 2-1.
U Mumba’s Manav Thakkar plays against Dabang Delhi’s Andreas Levenko during the UTT League in Chennai on Saturday. | Photo Credit: R. Raveendran
In the other men’s singles match, Manav defeated Andreas Levchenko 2-1 to take his team to a winning score of eight points. Dabang pulled one point back through Orawan Paranang, who defeated Maria Jiao.
Result:U Mumba vs Dabang Delhi 9-6 (Quadry lost to Aruna G. Sathiyan 11-4, 9-11, 9-11; Sutirtha Mukherjee beat Diya Chitale 11-6, 11-7, 11-4; Manav and Maria Xiao beat Sathiyan and Orawan Paranang 11-8, 11-9, 8-11; Manav beat Andreas Levenko 11-5, 11-4, 7-11; Maria lost to Orawan 11-10, 9-11, 5-11.
Ahmedabad SG Pipers beat Goa Challengers 10-5 (Lilian Bardet beat Harmeet Desai 11-6, 11-9, 11-6; Bernadette Szocs beat Yashaswini Ghorpade 11-6, 11-7, 11-3; Manush and Szocs beat Harmeet) Yangzhi Liu 4-11, 11-10, 11-9; Manush beat Mihai Bobocica 11-7, 11-7, 10-11; Reeth Rishya lost to Yangzhi Liu 6-11, 5-11, 5-11.
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