Manika Batra loses but Ahmedabad APL Pipers record 3-2 win against U Mumba in UTT

Panaji, Jul 11 (PTI) Ace Indian paddler Manika Batra went down fighting in women’s singles but her team Ahmedabad APL Pipers came from behind to clinch a 3-2 triumph over U Mumba TT in their Ultimate Table Tennis match, here on Saturday. Trailing 0-2 in the tie, Ahmedabad mounted a spirited comeback by winning the last three matches to record an important victory in their first match of the tournament, here at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium. Having lost both men’s and women’s singles upfront after the defeats of Adrian Rassenfosse and Manika, Ahmedabad rode on three consecutive wins. Following a 2-1 (11-10, 11-9, 10-11) win in mixed doubles clash between Sofia Polcanova-Payas Jain and Anna Hursey-Manush Shah, Ahmedabad took the upper hand when Payas defeated Manush 2-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-8) in their men’s singles contest. In the final match, Ahmedabad and Austria’s Polcanova sealed the fate of the tie in the first two games en route to a 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-4) win against U Mumba’s Anusha Kutumbale. Manika lacked control in the first two games which worked in favour of her opponent from Wales. Hursey found her rhythm after losing the opening match a couple of nights ago as the world No. 35 produced impressive footwork and swift returns to win the first two games. Manika rediscovered her mojo albeit a little too late. Having lost the match, Manika came back roaring to take a 7-0 lead in the final game before closing it 11-4. Hursey won the match 2-1 (11-7, 11-6, 4-11). At the beginning, Lilian Bardet, who also had lost his first match of the UTT, came back with better control and execution to record a 2-1 (11-7, 11-6, 9-11) victory over Rassenfosse and give U Mumba a lead. Earlier, Ankur Bhattacharjee made the shushing gesture, and hopped on to the table after blanking his senior India teammate G Sathiyan, but Sutirtha Mukherjee’s splendid showing gave Dabang Delhi TTC a 3-2 victory over Kolkata ThunderBlades. The Asian Games-bound Sutirtha showed a far better game plan and execution than her women’s doubles partner Ayhika, defeating her 3-0 (11-6, 11-2-, 11-7) to pull off a narrow victory for Delhi. Heading into the final match of the tie, Delhi were trailing 5-7 against Kolkata and needed a clean sweep in the women’s singles match, which Sutirtha delivered in a commanding manner. The two teams went head-to-head in the first two matches with the scoreline tied at 3-3, but a victory in the third match of mixed doubles for Delhi took them ahead by 5-4. In the first match, Delhi and Egypt player Youssef Abdelaziz recorded a 2-1 (6-11, 11-7, 11-4) win over Romania’s Eduard Ionescu in men’s singles. In the women’s singles, Kolkata’s Zeng Jian beat Maria Xiao 2-1 (11-3, 8-11, 11-9) to keep the tie evenly matched. Sathiyan paired up with Xiao to beat the Kolkata pair of Bhattacharjee and Zeng 2-1 (11-5, 7-11, 11-5) to keep Delhi ahead in the third match of mixed doubles. This was when an inspired Bhattacharjee turned the tables on Delhi with a fine display against Sathiyan, who will lead the Indian squad in the Asian Games. Forcing his senior into making several errors, Ankur rode on the confidence of winning the first game narrowly. But the 19-year-old Bhattacharjee grew in confidence to topple Sathiyan in the second and even as the latter fought back in the third game, the Kolkata player won the match 3-0 (11-10, 11-6, 11-10). PTI DDV UNG