The Shaze Challengers outclassed Dabang Smashers 14-9 to enter the final of the Ultimate Table Tennis league in Mumbai on Saturday. The Shaze Challengers will face Falcons TTC at the National Sports Club of India in Mumbai on Sunday.
The Smashers began the second semi-final with a splendid show by Portuguese Marcos Freitas, who beat beat India’s Soumyajit Ghosh 2-1 in the first match. Freitas got the better of Ghosh after losing their previous battle. The 29-year-old Portuguese was aggressive from the start and won the first two games 11-7 and 11-6. Ghosh fought back in the third and final game to win 11-9.
In the second match of the tie, Han Ying swept aside Madhurika Patkar of Dabang Smashers 3-0 to hand the Smashers a 4-2 lead. The German won 11-4, 11-6, and 11-7. Then, the pair of Soumyajit Ghosh and Petrissa Solja beat Anthony Amalraj and Tetyana Bilenko in the third clash to give the Challengers a 6-3 lead.
In the fourth match, Smashers’ Kou Lei faced Challengers skipper Andrej Gacina. The match was evenly poised before Gacina took the first game 11-9. However, Lei won the next game 11-6 to draw level. In the deciding game, Gacina upped the ante to win 11-7 to hand his team a healthy lead of 8-4 lead.
The fifth match between Han Ying and Kim Song was a fiery contest. However, Kim won the match 6-11, 11-9 and 11-10 to help her team take a 10-5 lead. Dabang Smashers’ Sathiyan Gnanasekaran then defeated Li Ping 2-1 in the sixth match.
In the seventh match, Dabang Smashers’ Kim Song defeated Mouma Das 2-1. Eventually, Li Ping sealed the match 14-9 in favour of the Challengers by pulling off a surprise 2-0 victory over Smashers captain Freitas.