By Kirti Patil
Pune: Two-time Olympian from the United States and born to a Chinese couple, Lily Zhang, gave her team—U Mumba TT—a stunning victory when she blanked Natalia Bajor 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-4) to give U Mumba TT a deserving win over Bengaluru Smashers.
Her teammate Manav Thakkar won two matches in the tie that went down to the wire as U Mumba TT staged a remarkable comeback to make a winning start in the IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4 beating Bengaluru Smashers at the Badminton Hall of the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge-Balewadi here on Friday.
U Mumba TT defeated Bengaluru Smashers 10-5 team points in an exciting tie.
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 and is looking to achieve success in its fourth season as well.
In the first match of the tie (Men’s Singles), World No.58 Kirill Gerassimenko of Bengaluru Smashers upset World No. 18 Quadri Aruna 2-1 (11-3, 9-11, 11-8) to gain two crucial team points for his franchise. The Bengaluru paddler began the match with positive intent and played some precise shots to defeat Quadri by in the thrilling contest.
Manika Batra played the second match of the tie (Women’s Singles). She beat Diya Chitale 2-1 to extend her franchise’s led to 4-2. The World No. 35 was in top gear from the start of the match and won it 11-10, 7-11, 11-6 with her aggressive and creative net play.
U Mumba TT made a comeback in the third match of the tie (Mixed Doubles) as the pair of Manav Thakkar and Lily Zhang defeated Manika and Kirill 2-1(11-10, 10-11, 11-6) to reduce Bengaluru Smashers’ lead to 5-4.
Manav continued his top form in the fourth match of the tie (Men’s Singles) as he produced a scintillating performance to brush aside Sanil Shetty 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-7) and bring U Mumba TT into lead (7-5) for the first time in the tie before Lily Zhang, who has a feature-length documentary made on her exploits, defeated Poland’s Natalia Bajor 3-0 (11-6, 11-5,11-4) to give U Mumba TT a remarkable victory.
Documentary feature on Zhang
Lily Zhang is featured in Top Spin—a 2014 feature-length documentary film directed by Mina T. Son and Sara Newens. It follows the road to the 2012 Summer Olympics of three American table tennis teenager players: Ariel Hsing, Michael Landers, and Lily Zhang.[1]
Top Spin has been premiered at the 2014 Documentary film festival at NYC where it won the Audience Award and was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2015 CAAM Fest. It also won THE Best Documentary Feature at the 2015 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Top Spin was also nominated for the Documentary Competition at the 2015 Nashville Film Festival.
The results:
Bengaluru Smashers lost to U Mumba TT: 5-10
Kirill Gerassimenko 2-1 Quadri Aruna (11-3, 9-11, 11-8)
Manika Batra beat Diya Chitale2-1 (11-10, 7-11, 11-6)
KirillGerassimenko/Manika Batra lost to Manav Thakkar/Lily Zhang 1-2 (11-10-, 10-11-10, 11-6-11)
Sanil Shetty lost to Manav Thakkar 0-3 (8-11, 3-11, 7-11)
Lily Zhang beat Natalia Bajor 03-0 (11-6-, 11-5-, 11-4).
