Ultimate Table Tennis: Sathiyan, Manika star in Smashers win

Indias highest-ranked mens

player G Sathiyan and Commonwealth Games double gold medallist

Manika Batra piloted Dabang Smashers to an emphatic win over

Warriors in the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) today.

Smashers picked up 14 points while conceding only 7

in their 6-1 verdict to jump to the top of the six-team table.

Manika began the charge against Achanta Sharath

Kamals Warriors, scoring a tense 2-1 victory in the opening

game by shocking World No. 18 Sofia Polcanova, who is ranked

62 spots higher than her, claiming two out of the three games

on "golden point".

Manika mixed her serves cleverly and used her backhand

effectively to score a 11-10, 5-11, 11-10 victory.

The other crowd favourite, Sharath Kamal, began

confidently, winning the first game 11-10, before Japans

Yoshida Masaki (World No. 27) recovered strongly in the next

to score a facile 11-5 win.

The Indian star battled hard in the decider but a

handful of unforced errors saw him lose 8-11.

Sathiyan, teaming up with Japanese Sakura Mori, rode

on the winning momentum to give the Smashers a clean 3-0

victory in the mixed doubles.

But he put his best foot forward in the next singles,

shocking World No. 15 Chin-Yuan Chuang of Chinese Taipei 2-1

(11-7, 11-6, 7-11).

The highest ranked Indian (World No. 44) upstaged his

rival with stunning returns to maintain his unbeaten record in

the tournament since season 1.

In between, Warriors were spurred by Polcanova, who

put behind her defeat to Manika, with a 3-0 victory over Mori

in her second singles match.

The 17-year-old Adriana Diaz, the youngest player in

the tournament from Puerto Rico, completed the Smashers

dominance with an emphatic 3-0 win over Pooja Sahasrabuddhe.

Tomorrow, Maharashtra United take on RPSG Mavericks.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)