Abhinandh PB shines as Dempo Goa Challengers crush U Mumba TT in UTT season opener

Panaji, Jul 9 (PTI) Young Abhinandh PB lit up the opening night of the Ultimate Table Tennis with a commanding victory over world No. 42 Lilian Bardet as Dempo Goa Challengers defeated U Mumba TT 10-5 in the season opener here on Thursday. Playing against his former side, Abhinandh produced a perfect mix of skills and speed to take down the Frenchman and give his side a 3-0 lead. With powerful returns and supreme control, Abhinandh forced the Frenchman into making errors throughout the match to record a commanding 11-6, 11-2, 11-3 victory. The victory marked another milestone in Abhinandh’s fledgling career and especially in the UTT, having stunned Olympian Izaac Quek in his debut season last year. The UTT have tweaked the golden point rule for the seventh season. Unlike in traditional table tennis where a player or team must win by a two-point margin after reaching 10 points, this year, the player or team which earns the next point (11) would be adjudged the winner. Abhinandh, the U-19 mixed doubles bronze medallist at the 2026 Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships as well as the gold medal winner in U-19 boys singles Gold at the WTT Youth Contender, was soon back on court for another victory for his side. The Chennai boy teamed up with former Goa Challengers skipper Bernadette Szocs to take down the Indo-British pair of Manush Shah and Anna Hursey in the mixed doubles 11-7, 7-11, 11-6. Their victory gave Goa Challengers an unassailable lead of 8-1. But before that, Szocs had handed another crushing defeat in a women’s singles match against U Mumba’s Nithyashree Mani. While the Indian looked impressive in patches, Mani lacked control to keep her hopes alive against the Romanian. Szocs clinched the match with an impressive 11-7, 11-9, 11-7 victory which had given Goa Challengers a strong start of 6-0. Manush took on Spain’s Alvaro Robles in men's singles with the hope to give his side some late consolation and did so with a hard fought 11-10, 8-11, 11-4 win. While Robles marched ahead in initial exchanges, the Indian kept fighting till the end of the first game to win it 11-10. While both the opponents erred in the second game before Robles clinched it 11-8, Manush found his rhythm in the final game to win 11-4. In another women’s singles contest, India’s Syndrela Das began with a 11-9 victory over Hursey but the latter bounced back to win with a similar margin in the second game. Hursey won the final game as well to clinch the match 9-11, 11-9, 11-7. PTI DDV TAP