By Kirti Patil
Pune: India’s next generation of men’s table tennis player, Manush Shah, aptly showed that he was waiting to take over the reins from the veterans as he produced the biggest upset of the IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4 with a stunning win over World No. 17 Quadri Aruna to steer his team—Puneri Paltan TT into the semifinals with a 10-5 win over U Mumba TTat the Badminton Hall of the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge-Balewadi here on Thursday.
Manush then combined well in the mixed doubles match with Hana Matelova as Puneri Paltan TT further extended his team’s lead to 4-2 after Hana Matelovahad beaten Lily Zhang 2-1 in the second match of the tie. Lily took the first game 11-7 before Hana won the second game against the American paddler through a golden point. The World No. 28 looked in trouble in the third game as well , as Hana won the decider 11-8.
Puneri Paltan Table Tennis reached the last four of the league with a total of 38 points, while U Mumba TT crashed out with 33 points in the league stage.
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 gamechanger for Indian table tennis since its inception in 2017.
The Vadodara boy, who is ranked 133 in the world, extended his brilliant show in the first match (Men’s Singles) of the last league stage tie to clinch a thrilling 2-1 win against Quadri and give his franchise a perfect start.
Manush began the matchpositively by using his sparkling forehand shots to unsettle Quadri and took the first game 11-7. The Nigerian paddler rallied to win the second game 11-8 with ferocious shots on both flanks and forced the match into the decider.
The third game went down to the wire as the young Indian paddler gave his all to win the decider 11-8 and complete a remarkable victory in the league.
Midway through the tie Puneri Paltan’s African champion Omar Assar, the world No. 21 defeated Manav Thakkar dian paddler 2-1 (8-11, 11-8, 11-5) to add weight to le victory for Puneri Paltan TT’s league points.
In the last match of the tie Archana Kamath of Puneri Paltan TT won 2-1 (8-11, 11-10, 11-5) against Diya Chitale, who ended her campaign remaining winless throughout the league.
The results:
U Mumba TT lost to Puneri Paltan TT 5-10 (Quadri Aruna lost to Manush Shah1-2 (7-11, 11-8, 8-11)
Lily Zhang lost to Hana Matelova1-2 (11-7, 10-11, 8-11; Manav Thakkar & Lily lost to Manush & Hana1-2 ( 8-11, 11-4, 5-11)
Manav Thakkar lost to Omar Assar1-2(11-8, 8-11, 5-11)
Diya Chitale lost to Archana Kamath1-2(11-8, 10-11, 5-11).
Final League Standings:
- Dabang Delhi TTC 42 points
- Chennai Lions 41
- Puneri Paltan TT 38
- Goa Challengers 36 points
- Bengaluru Smashers 35
- U Mumba TT 33
Semifinal Lineup: Dabang Delhi TTC vs Goa Challengers (Friday, July 28 7.30 pm); Puneri Paltan TT vs Chennai Lions (Saturday, July 29,7.30 pm).
