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Dempo Goa Challengers dominate U Mumba TT 10-5 in Ultimate Table Tennis Season 7 opener. Abhinandh PB and Bernadette Szocs lead the charge.
Abhinandh PB led Dempo Goa Challengers’ charge against U Mumba TT (Picture credit: UTT)
Abhinandh PB and Bernadette Szocs ensured that former winners Dempo Goa Challengers got a massive head start on the opening day of the Ultimate Table Tennis Season 7, as they led Dempo’s challenge against defending champions U Mumba TT to register a 10-5 win, cheered on by a considerable home support.
Abhinandh stunned a higher-ranked Lilian Bardet 11-6, 11-2, 11-3 to provide a good start to Dempo with a comprehensive win.
Olympian Bernadette Szocs was next in line and she took out India’s Nithyashree Mani in straight games as well, beating the latter 11-7, 11-9, 11-7.
After the opening two singles matches, the mixed doubles contest took centre stage, with Abhinandh and Bernadette joining forces to face star Indian paddler Manush Shah and his partner, Anna Hursey.
The Dempo pair continued their dominance by taking the opening game 11-7 to extend their team’s lead to 7-0. Manush and Anna responded with an identical 11-7 win in the second game, putting U Mumba on the scoreboard and reducing the deficit to 7-1.
But the momentum remained with Dempo as the Indo-Romanian pairing of Abhinandh and Bernadette claimed the decider 11-6, extending their team’s lead to an unassailable 8-1 in the 15-game tie.
Despite the tie already being decided, Manush produced a spirited performance against Spain’s Álvaro Robles. Trailing for most of the opening game, the former fought back to level the score at 10-all before clinching the golden point, narrowing the overall deficit to 8-2.
Robles responded by edging a tightly contested second game 11-8, extending Dempo’s advantage to 9-2. Manush, however, bounced back emphatically, cruising to an 11-4 win in the decider to earn U Mumba their third game of the tie.
The day’s final contest featured India’s rising star Syndrela Das against Anna Hursey. The former edged the opening game 11-9, but Hursey hit back by taking the second by the same score before sealing the decider 11-7, helping U Mumba finish the tie on a more respectable note despite Dempo’s 10-5 win.
Goa, India, India
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