The IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4 began with some exhilarating action as defending champions Chennai Lions began their title defence with a commanding victory against Puneri Paltan Table Tennis here at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge-Balewadi in Pune on Thursday.
Chennai Lions played brilliantly from the start of the tie and defeated Puneri Paltan Table Tennis by 10-5 team points to make a positive start in the tournament.
In the first match of the tie (Men's Singles), Chennai Lions' ace paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal beat Omar Assar by 2-1 to gain two valuable team points for his franchise. The Indian paddler started the tie on a positive note as he defeated Omar 11-10, 9-11, 11-6 in Game 1 with his aggressive play and precise shots.
Chennai Lions' Yangzi Liu was up against Archana Kamath in the second match (Women's Singles) and won it by 2-1 to put her franchise ahead by 4-2 in the tie. The Australian paddler won the first two games by 11-5, 11-10 before losing the third game by 10-11 against Archana.
In the third match of the tie, Sharath/Yangzi faced Omar/Archana (Mixed Doubles) and registered a 3-0 victory as Chennai Lions took a 7-2 lead in the tie. The winning pair dominated the match from the start and won the three games by 11-5, 11-8, and 11-2, respectively.
Puneri Paltan Table Tennis' Manush Shah put up a good fight against Chennai Lions' Benedikt Duda. However, it wasn't enough to bring his franchise back in the tie as Benedikt won the match by 2-1 (11-9, 11-7, 7-11) and clinched the first tie of the IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4, powered by DafaNews, by 9-3 for the defending champions.
In the last match of the tie, Sutirtha Mukherjee went up against Hana Matelova. Hana was the only paddler from Puneri Paltan Table Tennis to win a match as she defeated Sutirtha by 2-1 (11-6, 5-11, 11-2) in a dominating fashion.
All the ties will start at 7.30 PM with broadcast on Sports 18 and streamed on JioCinema. The tickets will be available on BookMyShow.
Ultimate Table Tennis Media Release