Pune, Jul 19 (PTI) India’s top-ranked male paddler Harmeet Desai and Reeth Rishya T impressed in Goa Challenger’s 9-6 win over the formidable U Mumba TT side in a Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4 contest, here on Wednesday.
While the Chennai-born Reeth stunned Lily Zhang 2-1 (6-11 11-6 11-9), Desai defeated Manav Thakkar 2-1 (10-11 11-7 11-8) to complete a remarkable victory for the Goa franchise, here at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex.
Reeth struggled in the first game against Lily but quickly found her feet in the second to make a strong comeback. In the third game, both Reeth and Lily fought hard but the Goa player prevailed over the world No. 26 Lily.
Desai had lost the first game against Thakkar but recovered well to win the remaining two games and the match.
But at the beginning of the contest, U Mumba made a winning start when Aruna Quadri beat Goa’s Alvaro Robles 2-1.
Robles began impressively but Quadri took the first game 11-6 and claimed a win in the match when he won the second game with the golden point.
Robles, to his credit, fought well to win the third game 11-8.
Goa Challengers, however, bounced back in the second match when Suthasini Sawettabut defeated India’s Diya Chitale 11-7 11-9 9-11.
In the mixed doubles, Desai and Suthasini defeated Thakkar and Lily 2-1 to bring Goa into the lead for the first time in the tie with a 5-4 margin.
The Goa Challengers’ pair showed impressive coordination to take the first and the second game 11-8, but the pair of Thakkar and Lily fought back hard in the third game to win 11-7.
Source: PTI News
