In a contest that went down to the wire, Goa Challengers denied the previous edition finalists, Dabang Delhi, another shot at the title after the former secured a 8-7 win in the first semifinal of the Season 4 Ultimate Table Tennis league at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Friday.
G Sathiyan claimed the first two games comfortably in the opening men’s singles to give Delhi an early lead. But Harmeet Desai wasn’t going to go down without a fight as he won the third to open Goa’s account.
In the women’s singles match-up, Goa’s star player World No. 39 Suthasini Sawettabut won the first and the third while Ayhika Mukherjee managed to sneak one in for Delhi that saw the overall match scoreboard tied at 3-3.
The most exciting clash of the evening was the mixed doubles between Delhi’s Sathiyan and Barbora Balazova and Goa’s Harmeet and Suthasini. The duo from Goa started well to win the first game before a charged Sathiyan inspired his Slovakian partner to up the ante that saw them win the next two games through golden points to help Delhi nudge ahead 5-4.
Later in the reverse men’s singles, Delhi’s Jon Persson won the first against Goa’s Alvaro Robles who clinched the next two.
The match now leveled at 6-6, the burden of a finals berth fell on the shoulders of Delhi’s Sreeja Akula and Goa’s Reeth Tennison in the last reverse women’s singles. With both the Indian girls taking one game each for the tie to stand at 7-7, Reeth held her nerve to seal the deal for Goa.
Results (semifinal): Goa Challengers bt Dabang Delhi 8-7 (Harmeet Desai lt to G Sathiyan 1-2; Suthasini Sawettabut bt Ayhika Mukherjee 2-1; Harmeet/ Suthasini lt to Sathiyan/ Barbora Balazova 1-2; Alvaro Robles bt Jon Persson 2-1; Reeth Tennison bt Sreeja Akula 2-1).