Star paddler Manika Batra led her team, PBG Bengaluru Smashers, to a 10-5 triumph over Puneri Paltan Table Tennis in Ultimate Table Tennis 2024 after surviving the giant-slaying Ayhika Mukherjee.
At Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Monday, star paddler Manika Batra led her side, PBG Bengaluru Smashers, to a 10-5 triumph over Puneri Paltan Table Tennis in Ultimate Table Tennis 2024. Batra had to overcome the formidable Ayhika Mukherjee. Manika dropped the opening game of her highly anticipated matchup with Ayhika, tripping over the same traps that had previously taken down the top player in the league, Bernadette Szocs. But the medallist from the Asian and Commonwealth Games responded in back-to-back games, taking the match 2-1.Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani are promoting the franchise-based competition on behalf of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).
Puneri Paltan Table Tennis created UTT history even before the first serve landed. The Pune team made history by naming all six of their players in the starting lineup for five matches.
The match began with 17-year-old Puneri Paltan Table Tennis player Ankur Bhattacharjee facing PBG Bengaluru Smashers’ Jeet Chandra. Both Ankur and Jeet had recorded outstanding sweeping wins in their previous clashes in UTT 2024 – Ankur over Lilian Bardet and Jeet over Sharath Kamal – but it was the teenager who emerged victorious this time, winning alternate games to claim the match 2-1.Manika returned to the table for the mixed doubles round, this time paired with captain Alvaro Robles. Puneri Paltan Table Tennis, on the other hand, fielded Natalia Bajor and Anirban Ghosh, who pushed the PBG Bengaluru Smashers to the very end before losing 2-1. Robles followed up on his dominant doubles performance with a 2-1 victory over two-time Olympian Joao Monteiro in the tie’s second men’s singles.
With the PBG Bengaluru Smashers needing just one point to win the tie, USA paddler Lily Zhang defeated Puneri Paltan Table Tennis’ sixth different player on the night, Yashini Sivashankar, to put her team ahead.Manika and Zhang received the Indian and Foreign Player of the Tie awards for their performances. Meanwhile, Ankur received the DafaNews Shot of the Tie award.
The U Mumba TT will face Ahmedabad SG Pipers in Tuesday’s only match at 19:30, with both sides hoping for their second win in UTT 2024.
UTT 2024 will be broadcast live on Sports18 Khel and streamed online via JioCinema (India) and Facebook Live (outside of India). Tickets can be purchased online through BookMyShow or in person at the box office outside Gate 1 of the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.
