Following Shaze Challengers’ narrow win yesterday, Dabang Smashers downed Oilmax Stag Yoddhas 14-13 at the Thyagraj Stadium in Delhi on Tuesday to seal a semi-final berth. With the win, the smashers took the top spot in the Ultimate Table Tennis table with 69 points.
The tie was decided in the last game with world number 19 Kim Song-i beating world number 64 Polina Mikhailova 11-4, 6-11, 11-9. Aruna Quadri’s kept Yoddhas in the game with a thrilling win over world number 14 Marcos Freitas. Rising Indian star Sathiyan Gnanasekaran got the ball rolling and pulled off a 2-1 (11-2, 11-7, 6-11) victory over Croatian world No 75 Tomislav Pucar (Oilmax Stag Yoddhas) in the men’s singles to hand Smashers an early lead.
However, Manika Batra scored an upset 2-1 (11-9, 11-9, 4 -11) victory over North Korean world No 19 Kim Song I in the women’s singles to level scores at 3-all for Oilmax Stag Yoddhas. Next up was mixed doubles and Oilmax Stag Yoddhas’ pair of Nigeria’s Quadri and Manika Batra rallied to beat AA Amalraj and Tetyana Bilenko 2-1 (10-11, 11-9, 11-9) and hand their team a 5-4 lead.
Kou Lei of Dabang Smashers took the first two games off Tomislav Pucar before the Croatian rallied to win the third game in the men’s singles as the teams levelled at 6-all. Action shifts to Mumbai from Thursday for the final leg where Maharashtra United will lock horns with Falcons TTC in their fifth and final league fixture.
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