Falcons TTC registered a facile 17-10 win against Maharashtra United in Mumbai on to book a place in the semi-finals of Ultimate Table Tennis. United’s loss signalled the end of the road for them in the tournament, and were unable to close in on the Falcons, who got off to a flying start in the tie.
Briton Liam Pitchford put Falcons ahead with a 3-0 (11 -6, 11-4, 11-9) win over India’s Harmeet Desai in the men’s singles, the tie’s opening clash. Sutirtha Mukherjee rallied strongly to pull off a surprise 2-1 (7-11, 11-5, 11-9) win over China-born Portuguese international Fu Yu in the women’s singles to extend Falcons’ lead to 5-1.
Next up was mixed doubles where Harmeet Desai and his China-born Austrian partner Liu Jia of Maharashtra United won the opening two games before Sanil Shetty and Lee Ho Ching pulled one back for Falcons, who led 6-3 after three matches. Portuguese Joao Monteiro of Maharashtra United won the first two games convincingly but Sweden’s Par Gerell clinched the third in the men’s singles to help Falcons set the pace in the contest.
Shaze Challengers face Sharath Kamal’s RP-SG Mavericks on Thursday.
(With inputs from PTI)
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