Smashers continue winning run
Manika Batra continued to hog the limelight in the Ultimate Table Tennis, guiding Dabang Smashers to a 17- 4 victory over defending champions Falcons at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Monday.
Smashers won six of the seven matches in the tie to emerge as the leaders of the Pune leg with 31 points in their kitty. RP- SG Mavericks are second with 24 points, followed by Maharashtra United ( 20), Falcons ( 15), Empoweji Challengers ( eight) and Warriors ( seven).
Smashers captain G. Sathiyan first teamed up with Japan’s Sakura Mori to win their mixed doubles match 3- 0 against Sanil Shetty and Bernadette Szocs 119, 11- 4, 11- 4 before extending his unbeaten run in singles, upstaging Spain’s Alvaro Robles 11- 10, 11- 6, 11- 6.
Once Manika squeezed past world no. 30 Matilda Ekholm 811, 11- 10, 11- 10 in a pulsating duel, the Smashers were all over their rivals.
World no. 27 Japan’s Yoshida Masaki downed Sanil Shetty 119, 11- 4, 11- 4 in another singles match. All three games were locked at 8- 8 but the Indian broke through twice to collect precious points and seal victory.
Falcons’ captain Liam Pitchford reduced the margin with a 11- 10, 11- 9, 6- 11 victory over Masaki.
It was the only win that Falcons registered in the tie as Smashers’ 17- year- old Puerto Rican Adriana Diaz, Sathiyan and Mori won the remaining three singles without much ado.
Adriana won 11- 9, 11- 8, 9- 11 over Romanian Bernadette while Sakura beat Sutirtha Mukherjee 11- 3, 11- 7, 11- 10.