DHFL Maharashtra United win their UTT opener against Oilmax Stag Yoddhas

DHFL MAHARASHTRA UNITED beat Oilmax Stag Yoddas 15-12 on points on Day Three of CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) played at the Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on July 15.

Setting the tone for evening’s proceedings, Harmeet Desai of DHFL Maharashtra United pulled off an upset 3-0 (11-6, 11-10, 11-9) win over world No. 19 Panagiotis Gionis.

Ranked No. 79 in the world, Desai hit top gear early on in the opening game winning it 11-6. Gionis a strong defensive player put Desai’s skills to test but DHFL Maharashtra United’s Desai was up for everything that Greek threw at him and pulled through on the golden point. Game three was close too, but Desai pulled of another sensational round to hand his team maximum (three) points.

It was then for world No. 22 Liu Jia to make the evening sweeter for DHFL Maharashtra United as she beat Manika Batra (11-6, 5-11, 11-7) to make it 5-1 for her team. 

Oilmax Stag Yoddhas made a comeback in mixed doubles as Aruna Quadri/ Manika Batra beat Joao Monteiro/ Pooja Sahasrabudhe 3-0 (11-1, 11-4, 11-7) to cut the lead to 5-4.

Joao Monteiro continued Maharashtra’s procession handing Gionis his second loss of the night with 3-0 (11-10, 11-3, 11-4) drubbing to hand DHFL Maharashtra United a 8-4 lead on points going into the game 5.

DHFL Maharashtra United’s Liu Jia  was handed a 1-2 loss by world No. 28 Doo Hei Kem (11-5, 11-7, 10-11). It was then left for top ranked men’s player of Ultimate Table Tennis Wong Chun Ting to consolidate the lead. The world No. 8 beat Jubin Kumar 2-1 (7-11, 11-8, 4-11) as DHFL Maharashtra United took a 11-7 lead. 

Doo Hoi Kem dominated game 7 as she beat Krittwika Sinha Roy of Maharashtra 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 11-8) for Yoddhas to make a comeback in the match with scoreline reading 10-11. The see-saw battle saw Maharashtra winning the next tie 2-1, another game that went down the wire between Wong Chun and Quadri (7-11, 10-11, 11-10).

Fu Yu sealed the fate of Oilmax Stag Yoddhas with a 2-1 win over Polina Mikhailova (9-11, 11-7, 9-11) as DHFL Maharashtra United made their debut in CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis with a 15-12 win.

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