Falcons stave off Maharashtra United’s challenge
June 15, 2018, Pune
Defending champion Falcons TTC survived a scare from Maharashtra United in the inaugural match of the Ultimate Table Tennis’ second edition on Thursday.
Thanks to the tremendous support it enjoyed from home supporters at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex, Maharashtra led 10-8, on the basis of game scores, going into the final match. But in the last match, Matilda Ekholm, the World No. 30, romped home against Madhurika Patkar to prevent an upset.
The Swede was so fluent, while serving and with her forehand top-spin, that she hardly broke sweat against a hapless Madhurika.
The match of the day was the one between Liam Pitchford and Anthony Amalraj. The Indian won the first game and raced to a 7-1 lead in the second to be within touching distance of what would have been the biggest win of his career.
Pitchford then showed his class by targeting Amal’s forehand corner and made a scintillating comeback to ensure two points for his team, and that proved crucial.
The results: Falcons TTC bt Maharashtra United 11-10 (Sutirtha Mukherjee lost to Lily Zhang 10-11, 8-11, 5-11; Liam Pitchford bt A. Amalraj 5-11, 11-8, 11-9; Bernadette Szocs & Sanil Shetty bt Elizabeta Samara & Amalraj 11-9, 8-11, 11-6; Alvaro Robles bt Joao Monteiro 8-11, 11-3, 11-9; Szocs bt Elizabeta 11-8, 6-11, 11-6; Sanil lost to Kristian Karlsson 4-11, 3-11, 8-11; Matilda Ekholm bt Madhurika Patkar 11-5, 11-7, 11-5).
On Friday: Challengers vs Mavericks .
