Winning start for defending champs
Defending champions Falcons TTC survived a scare from Maharashtra United before coming through 11- 10 in the opening tie of the second Ceat Ultimate Table Tennis at the Balewadi Indoor Stadium in Pune on Thursday.
Captain Liam Pitchord, Bernadette Szocs, and Alvaro Robles led the charge for the Falcons, winning four matches and fetching them eight points to gain the advantage.
Maharashtra too were powered by their foreign players, Lily Zhang and Kristian Karlsson, who won their respective matches 3- 0 to set the stage for an upset.
America’s Zhang provided a flying start by defeating Falcons’ Sutirtha Mukherjee in the first match, only to see the Falcons come back by winning the next four matches.
Maharashtra, however, won a game in each of those matches to stay ahead on points. Swede Karlsson, the world no. 18, arrested the slide by defeating Sanil Shetty in all the three games to wrest the lead from Falcons 10- 8.
But Swede Matilda Ekholm swung the last match in the Falcons’ favour by upstaging Madhurika Patkar 3- 0.
Romania’s Bernadette was the star for Falcons as she first teamed up with Sanil Shetty to clinch the mixed doubles against Elizabeta Samara and Anthony Amalraj 2- 1.
She then stunned countrymate and world no. 19 Elizabeta, ranked four places above her, to give Falcons an 8- 7 edge for the first time in the tie. Results: Falcons T. T. C bt Maharashtra United 11- 10 on points ( Women’s singles: Sutirtha Mukherjee lost to Lily Zhang ( USA) 0- 3 ( 10- 11, 8- 11, 511); Men’s singles: Liam Pitchford ( Eng) bt Anthony Amalraj 2- 1 ( 5- 11, 11- 8, 11- 9); Mixed doubles: Bernadette Szocs ( Rom) / Sanil Shetty bt Elizabeta Samara ( Rom) / Amalraj Anthony 2- 1 ( 11- 9, 8- 11, 11- 6); Men’s singles: Alvaro Robles ( ESP) bt Joao Monteiro ( Por) 2- 1 ( 8- 11, 11- 3, 11- 9); Women’s singles: Bernadette Szocs ( Rom) bt Elizabeta Samara ( Rom) 2- 1 ( 11- 8, 6- 11, 116); Men’s singles: Sanil Shetty lost to Kristian Karlsson ( Swe) 0- 3 ( 4- 11, 3- 11, 8- 11); Women’s singles: Matilda Ekholm ( Swe) bt Madhurika Patkar 3- 0 ( 11- 5, 11- 7, 11- 5).
Falcons TTC defeated Maharashtra United 11- 10 in Ultimate Table Tennis’ opening tie with captain Liam Pitchord leading their charge