UTT 2019 | Chennai Lions beat Puneri Paltan, comes back to winning ways
After a loss in the first tie of the in Ultimate Table Tennis season three, the Chennai Lions came back to winning ways with a thumping 10-5 win over Puneri Paltan at the Thyagaraj Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday. Germany’s Petrissa Solja and Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia starred for the Lions.
Solja was up against Commonwealth Championship gold medal winner Ayhika Mukherjee and it was a tricky task to put it mildly. However, she won it 3-0 in a thrilling encounter despite the 134 ranked Indian displaying great composure to take the match right to the wire.
Mukherjee started the stronger taking a 5-2 lead in the early stages before letting the German get back into the game by leveling 5-5. Once Solja got momentum, it was difficult to stop here as her deft touches only increased and Mukherjee went down 10-11.
The second game wasn’t very different as the crowd support buoyed Mukherjee to take a 2-0 lead early on before Solja again came back to win it 11-6. The final game too, though a bit more tensed, saw Solja escaping some nervy moments before sealing it and give the Lions an early advantage.
Apolonia against Harmeet Desai was also supposed to be a close encounter and after going down in the first game, Desai was seen stretching Apolonia as the score read 5-5 and then 9-9 before the Portuguese won the golden point to take game 11-10. The decider saw Apolonia undisputed as the Portuguese played away from the table and used his height advantage to win it 11-7. The Lions had got a 5-1 lead in just two games.
It was up to the mixed doubles pair of Sharath Kamal and Petrissa then to then take the tie home and they did exactly that by winning 2-1 against Desai and Sabine Winter. The Lions pair won the first game 11-7, before following it up with wins of 11-7 and 11-6 to hand the Lions a 8-1 overall.
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