IMAGE: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Maria Xiao of Delhi Dabang TTC in action against Kanak Jha and Sreeja Akula of Jaipur Patriots in the Ultimate Table Tennis Season 6 opener in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
Photograph: Ultimate Table Tennis
Internationals Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Diya Chitale fired Dabang Delhi to a commanding 11-4 win over Jaipur Patriots in the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 6 opener in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
Returning to Season 2 champions Dabang Delhi for the sixth consecutive season, Sathiyan kicked off his campaign in style, breezing past Jeet Chandra 3-0 in Match No. 4.
Diya, the highest-valued Indian player this season, followed with a stunning 2-1 win over World No. 43 Britt Eerland, an opponent ranked 43 rungs above her.
In the first match of the season, Jaipur’s Kanak Jha, a three-time Olympian representing the US, went down to Delhi’s 19-year-old Isaac Quek from Singapore.
Kanak began the proceedings on a strong note, but unfazed by the opponent’s higher ranking and vast experience, Izaac turned the tide with blistering backhand smashes to win the tie 2-1 for the Delhi outfit.
Jaipur’s Sreeja Akula then staged a gritty comeback to edge Maria Xiao 2-1. She made an impressive recovery after losing the first seven points of the match and finished the game with the season’s first Golden Point.
IMAGE: Diya Chitale returns a shot during her match against Britt Eerland. Photograph: Ultimate Table Tennis
In the mixed doubles, Sathiyan and Maria combined to drub Kanak Jha and Sreeja Akula 11-6, 11-10, 11-6 to put Delhi ahead before Sathiyan and Diya sealed the deal in the final two matches of the day.
Sathiyan claimed the Indian Player of the Tie award, while Maria took home the double-honours of Foreign Player of the Tie and Shot of the Tie.
Earlier, in the Dream UTT Juniors — a joint initiative by UTT and Dream Sports Foundation — U Mumba TT and PGB Pune Jaguars won their respective matches with an identical margin of 5-4.
While U Mumba edged Stanley’s Chennai Lions with crucial victories from Prateek Tulsani and Ananya Muralidharan, Pune Jaguars got the better of Kolkata ThunderBlades, thanks to an excellent show by the doubles pairing of Atharva Nawarange and Tushti Sood.
Results
Dabang Delhi TTC beat Jaipur Patriots 11-4
Izaac Quek bt Kanak Jha 2-1 (5-11, 11-5, 11-9)
Maria Xiao lost to Sreeja Akula 1-2 (11-4, 9-11, 10-11)
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran/Maria Xiao bt Kanak Jha/Sreeja Akula 3-0 (11-6, 11-10, 11-6)
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran bt Jeet Chandra 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 11-6)
Diya Chitale bt Britt Eerland 2-1 (11-8, 11-7, 8-11)