“Let’s make some noise!” It was the mantra for Kolkata ThunderBlades, the newest entrant to the Ultimate Table Tennis bandwagon.
The franchise homeowners left no stone unturned in getting a fan military within the stands and the paddlers responded as they edged previous Chennai Lions to begin off their sojourn on a winning observe.
Setting the tone
Ankur Bhattacharjee blanked the fancied Kirill Gerassimenko 3-0 to set the tone earlier than Adriana Diaz, the Puerto Rican world No. 17, marked her return to UTT after seven years by winning the deciding recreation of the tie in opposition to former nationwide champion Poymantee Baisya at hand ThunderBlades an 8-7 win.
Ankur was the choose of the day’s proceedings.
After overpowering the world No. 55 within the opening recreation, the second recreation witnessed a spree of rallies with Gerassimenko attempting to take management.
Ankur’s class was displayed within the 23-shot rally at 8-7 within the second recreation when the Indian completed it off with a forehand top-spin.
In the third recreation, the backhand jab adopted by a sturdy backhand winner at 9-7 left Gerassimenko surprised.
Even although Fan Siqi introduced parity to the tie with a clear slate in opposition to Selenadeepthi Selvakumar, the final recreation that Ankur and Diaz snatched within the blended doubles in opposition to Payas Jain and Fan proved to be essential.
Jain additionally had a formidable UTT debut as he stretched Quadri to the hilt earlier than the African veteran claimed a slim win.
The outcomes: Kolkata ThunderBlades bt Stanley’s Chennai Lions 8-7 (Ankur Bhattacharjee bt Kirill Gerassimenko 11-4, 11-10, 11-7; Selenadeepthi Selvakumar misplaced to Fan Siqi 8-11, 10-11, 6-11; Ankur & Adriana Diaz misplaced to Payas Jain & Fan 6-11, 4-11, 11-8; Quadri Aruna bt Payas Jain 11-3, 8-11, 11-9; Adriana bt Poymantee Baisya 11-6, 7-11, 11-6).
U Mumba TT bt Ahmedabad SG Pipers 10-5 (Lilian Bardet bt SFR Snehit 11-4, 11-9, 4-11; Yashaswini Ghorpade bt Ayhika Mukherjee 8-11, 11-7, 11-4; Bernadette Szocs & Akash Pal bt Ayhika & Ricardo Walther 11-4, 10-11, 11-6; Pal misplaced to Walther 11-8, 6-11, 5-11; Szocs bt Georgia Piccolin 11-4, 11-10, 11-9).
Tuesday’s fixture: Jaipur Patriots vs Chennai Lions (5 p.m.).
Published – June 02, 2025 10:32 pm IST
