New Delhi: The third edition of Ultimate Table Tennis got off to an explosive start here on Thursday, with debutants Puneri Paltan T.T overcoming Dabang Delhi T.T.C 8 points to 7 in a close and exciting encounter.
Going into the last match of the day with the overall scores tied 6-6, Germany’s Sabine Winter showed no signs of nerves as she overcame Romania’s Bernadette Szocs 2-1 to clinch that crucial extra point.
India’s top-ranked player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran produced a stellar performance, beating Harmeet Desai in the Men’s Singles and then pairing up with Bernadette Szocs to win two matches and clinch 5 points.
But that was not enough as Paltan won both the Women’s Singles and the second Men’s Singles. Ayhika Mukherjee began Paltan’s campaign on a positive note, comfortably beating Krittwika Sinha Roy, picking up the 3 points on offer in the first Women’s Singles contest.
She seemed to be in a bit of bother as she fell behind 4-6 and 9-10. She, however, saved the golden point and won one more to take the game.
She was on a roll in the second game, jumping to a 6-2 lead to win it rather easily. The third game was, however, tight, with Krittwika taking her all the way to another golden point tussle.
RESULTS: W Singles: Roy lost to Mukherjee 0-3; M Singles: Sathiyan beat Desai 2-1);
Mixed Doubles: Sathiyan-Szocs beat Chuang-Ayhika 3-0; M Singles: Jon lost to Chaung 1-2; W Singles: Szocs lost to Sabine Winter 1-2.
