As the engines of Formula LGB cars roared a few lanes away with Chennai hosting its first-ever street race, Alvaro Robles and Lily Zhang shifted gears at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium and revved up to ensure PBG Bengaluru Smashers takes the chequered flag in the race to the Ultimate Table Tennis semifinal.
Dabang Delhi TTC, which needed to win at least by a 12-3 margin to confirm a final-four finish on Sunday, will now have to await other results despite pipping Robles and Co. 8-7. To remain in the top 2, Dabang would have to hope the U Mumba vs Athlead Goa Challengers tie turns out to be a closely-contested affair and Chennai Lions snatch at least three points off Puneri Paltan. They can afford an Ahmedabad win on the last day of the league stage, but by a margin of 10-5 or lesser.
On matchday 11, Robles and Zhang extended their unbeaten run with clean sweeps to help the Smashers gain a 6-0 lead. While Robles’ job was made considerably easier after being fielded against an unheralded Yashansh Malik, Zhang was made to work hard by an in-form Orawan Paranang.
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The US paddler may have claimed the match 3-0, but she had to ensure she kept the Thai paddler on her toes, with strategic placements and half-long services. Once she had the win in her bag, she pulled out a ‘ Thaggedele’ celebration, inspired by Allu Arjun-starrer Telugu action-drama Pushpa.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran teamed up with Orawan in the mixed doubles next to claim Dabang’s first point of the tie. Despite a number of errors from Robles, Manika Batra’s partner, which frustrated the Spaniard to the extent that he kicked the ball out of the arena after losing a point, the Smashers picked up another game to take the side to the brink of victory at 7-2. And it stayed at the brink for no one could have anticipated what was to follow.
Mounting a comeback
In the men’s singles, Sathiyan squared off with Jeet Chandra, his first Indian opponent of this season. The Dabang skipper won his third golden point of 2024 in the first game and went on to win the next two games by bigger margins to keep his team alive in the contest. His job wasn’t over, for Sathiyan knew he had a bigger task at hand – to coach the 21-year-old Diya Chitale through the next three games against the sensational Manika.
Chitale had her back to the ropes, it was always going to be a tough nut to crack for the Mumbai-based paddler. But having lost just one fixture prior to this, Chitale, egged on by Sathiyan from the sidelines, stunned a visibly flustered Manika 3-0 with her fiery backhand drives that had the latter gasping for breath. As Chitale went down on her knees to celebrate the win, Sathiyan rushed onto the floor and enveloped her in a bear hug. His assignment was now complete.
Ankur tones it down, plays it up
Meanwhile, Puneri Paltan and Jaipur Patriots were tasked with another assignment: trying to avoid the wooden spoon. After a verbal showdown with Dabang’s Andreas Levenko on Friday, Puneri Paltan Table Tennis’ Ankur Bhattacharjee seemed subdued in his celebrations in the match against Jaipur Patriots, which lost the tie 6-9.
With Ankur’s aggression, a weapon he uses effectively to get under his opponent’s skin, out of the equation after he received an unofficial caution, Ronit Bhanja got off the blocks quickly to eventually claim the golden point in the first game.
The second game trickled down to the very last point, but this time Ankur, who has the highest percentage points scored on serve in UTT 2024 (63 per cent), restored parity to stay alive in the contest. And this was the first time a “Cho” rang across the venue, with the 17-year-old’s coaches pumping him up.
Ankur Bhattacharjee of Puneri Paltan Table Tennis in action against Ronit Bhanja of Jaipur Patriots during the Indian Oil UTT Table Tennis League in Chennai. | Photo Credit: VEDHAN M/ The Hindu
In the third game, Bhanja was made to go up against two opponents: Ankur and his new-found bellicosity. The Ichhapore-born lad saved two matchpoints but Ankur got to have the last laugh as he continued his undefeated run in the league. He has only dropped two out of the 12 games he has featured in.
Meanwhile, Ayhika Mukherjee bit the dust for the third straight match. Overtly reliant on her backhand owing to the anti-type rubber, Ayhika leaked points when Suthasini Sawettabut played to her wide forehand.
It took Natalia Bajor only one game to cement the win for Paltan in the last women’s singles fixture.
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