Dempo Goa Challengers remained unbeaten in Butterfly Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 7 after Bernadette Szocs won a deciding match to secure an 8-7 victory over HVR Kolkata ThunderBlades at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium on Sunday.
With the tie level at 7-7 entering the final match, reigning UTT MVP Szocs edged Singapore’s Zeng Jian 11-9 in the deciding game to seal victory for the defending champions.
The result also extended the strong start to the season by teenage paddler Abhinandh P.B., who maintained his unbeaten record with a victory over Ankur Bhattacharjee.
Goa made the stronger start as Spain’s Alvaro Robles defeated Eduard Ionescu 2-1 after finishing the contest with an 11-0 game. Kolkata responded when Ayhika Mukherjee beat Syndrela Das 2-1 before Ayhika and Ankur Bhattacharjee combined to win the mixed doubles 2-1, giving the ThunderBlades a narrow 5-4 lead.
Abhinandh then swung the momentum back in Goa’s favour with a 2-1 win over Ankur, setting up the decisive women’s singles encounter.
Zeng Jian claimed the opening game against Szocs, but the Romanian fought back to level the contest before holding her composure in the decider. Szocs converted her fourth match point with a topspin winner to clinch the tie 8-7.
Abhinandh was named the ChatGPT Match IQ Player of the Tie. Ayhika Mukherjee received the Indian Player of the Tie award after winning both her singles and mixed doubles matches, while Robles was named Foreign Player of the Tie. Ankur Bhattacharjee earned the Bisleri Shot of the Tie honour.
Earlier, Dream UTT Juniors saw Dabang Delhi TTC hand U Mumba TT their first defeat of the campaign with a 6-3 victory. Dempo Goa Challengers also defeated PBG Pune Jaguars 6-3 to move up to fourth place in the junior standings.
Butterfly UTT Season 7 is being held under the aegis of the Table Tennis Federation of India and features 42 players, including 14 Olympians.
Final Score
Dempo Goa Challengers 8-7 HVR Kolkata ThunderBlades
- Alvaro Robles bt. Eduard Ionescu 2-1 (11-8, 9-11, 11-0)
- Ayhika Mukherjee bt. Syndrela Das 2-1 (11-9, 11-7, 4-11)
- Ankur Bhattacharjee/Ayhika Mukherjee bt. Alvaro Robles/Syndrela Das 2-1 (11-9, 7-11, 11-7)
- Abhinandh P.B. bt. Ankur Bhattacharjee 2-1 (11-8, 11-8, 6-11)
- Bernadette Szocs bt. Zeng Jian 2-1 (5-11, 11-8, 11-9)
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