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Falcons beat Shaze Challengers to emerge inaugural Ultimate Table Tennis champions
Falcons TTC beat Shaze Challengers 14-9 in the final to win the inaugural Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) league.
Falcons TTC emerged champions of the inaugural Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT), the country’s newest franchise sports league, after beating Shaze Challengers 14-9 in the final at the National Sports Club of India in Mumbai on Sunday.
According to tournament rules, in the knockout stages, the team that secures 14 points first is declared the winner.
Li Ping put Shaze Challengers ahead with a 2-1 win over Sanil Shetty in men’s singles, the opening match of the tie.
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However, in-form Wu Yang swept aside Mouma Das of Shaze Challengers 3-0 in women’s singles to hand the lead to Falcons TTC 4-2.
Next up was mixed doubles (foreign/Indian) and Falcons TTC’s pair of Sanil Shetty and Lee Ho Ching brushed aside Soumyajit Ghosh and Petrissa Solja 3-0 to extend their team’s lead to 7-2.
Then Croatian Andrej Gacina of Shaze Challengers beat Briton Liam Pitchford 2-1 in men’s singles (foreign player category) to help Falcons TTC lead 8-4.
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Wu Yang then recorded her second 3-0 win of the day to take Falcons TTC closer to victory at 11-4 as she beat China-born German world No.9 Han Ying 3-0 in women’s singles (foreign player category).
Liam Pitchford rallied to beat Soumyajit Ghosh (Shaze Challengers) 2-1 in men’s singles to place Falcons TTC at the doorstep of victory at 13-5.
However, Han Ying put it across Sutirtha Mukherjee 3-0 to lift Shaze Challengers to 8-13 before Par Gerell rallied to seal the title at 14-9 for Falcons after losing the opening game to Li Ping.
