By Kirti Patil
Pune: 7-time German National champion Benedikt Duda gave his team, the defending champions—Chennai Lions a flying start with a 2-1 win over Alvaro Robles and his teammates took the cue from such a start inspiring the seasoned Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal, who produced a classic performance to overcome the country’s top-ranked men’s singles player Harmeet Desai as Chennai Lions defeated Goa Challengers 11-4 in the ongoing IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4 at the Badminton hall of the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge-Balewadi here on Saturday.
After Duda gave a winning start, Sutirtha Mukherjee, who lost her previous two matches in the league started bravely against World No. 39 Thai player, Suthasini Sawettabut, but went down fighting 8-11, 8-11, 10-11—losing the decider on the golden point.
The franchise-based league, promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani under the auspices of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), has been a game-changer for Indian table tennis since its inception in 2017.
In the third match, the pair of Sharath and Yangzi Liu began the match with immaculate coordination as they took the first game 11-6 before winning the next one by the same scoreline. The third game went in the favour of the Chennai Lions paddlers through a golden point.
It was an end-to-end battle between both the Indian paddlers from the start of the match as the crowd was treated to some top-class table tennis in the fourth match, the men’s singles. The first game went in the favour of Sharath Kamal 11-9 who countered Harmeet’s aggression with his calm demeanour.
The 13-time Commonwealth Games medallist carried forward the momentum as he took the second game by 11-9 to secure the eighth winning point for his franchise. Sharath won the third game 11-8.
In the final match of the tie, Yangzi Liu beat T Reeth Tenninson2-1 to complete a stunning victory for the defending champions.
To the table with a positive mentality in the third game as she took an early 4-1 lead before the Goa Challengers paddler came roaring back and took a 5-4 lead with the use of powerful forehand shots. She then won the game by 11-6 to clinch the victory in the match.
The result:
Chennai Lions beat Goa Challengers 11-4
Benedikt Duda bt Alvaro Robles 2-1(11-5, 8-11, 11-7)
Sutirtha Mukherjee lost to Suthasini Sawettabut 1-2 (11-8, 10-11, 6-11)
Achanta Sharath Kamal /Yangzi Liu bt Harmeet Desai/ Suthasini3-0(11-6, 11-6, 11-10)
SharathKamal bt Harmeet3-0(11-9, 11-9, 11-8)
YangziLiu bt ReethTenninson 32-1(11-4, 11-10, 8-11)
Standings:
- Chennai Lions 35 points
- Goa Challengers 30
- U Mumba TT 24
- Dabang Delhi TTC 22
- Puneri Paltan TT 21
Bengaluru Smashers 18.
