JOIN USAndrej Gacina and Han Ying won both their matches to help Shazé Challengers down DHFL Maharashtra United 15-12 in the CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) at the Thyagaraj Stadium on Monday.
Croatian World No 46 Gacina provided Challengers a 3-0 lead in the opening match with a dominant 11-6, 11-9, 11-5 win over World No 79 Harmeet Desai in the men’s singles.
However, Fu Yu, ranked 37 in the world, rallied to win over World No 135 Mouma Das of 5-11, 11-7, 11-7 in the women’s singles to secure United’s first point in the tie.
In the mixed doubles, Harmeet and Liu Jia of DHFL Maharashtra United won the first two games before Soumyajit Ghosh and Petrissa Solja pulled one back with the scoreline at 11-5, 11-2, 7-11 to keep Challengers ahead at 5-4.
Gacina then put it across Portuguese World No 48 Joao Monteiro with a 11-6, 11-9, 7-11 victory in the men’s singles to give Challengers an edge.
United, however, regained the lead at 8-7, through Liu who beat Petrissa Solja 11-5, 11-5, 11-10 in the women’s singles. Hong Kong World No 8 Wong Chun Ting then quelled a serious challenge from Ghosh Challengers 11-8, 2-11, 11-9 in the men’s singles to extend United’s lead to 10-8.
However, in another star performance Han drubbed United’s Pooja Sahasrabudhe Koparkar 11-3, 11-7, 11-5 in the women’s singles to put Challengers back ahead at 11-10. Ping rallied to beat higher-ranked Wong Chun Ting 6-11, 11-9, 11-8 in the men’s singles to consolidate Challengers’ lead to 13-11.
In the final match between Han and Yu, the former won 11-7, 11-5, 8-11 to seal it for Challengers.
After four completed league rounds for all teams, Falcons TTC lead the table with 61 points.