Yashaswini Ghorpade stuns Fan Siqi as U Mumba, Jaipur Patriots dominate in UTT
India's 20-year-old rising star Yashaswini Ghorpade caused a major upset in IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 6 on Saturday, becoming the first player to beat China's Fan Siqi this season. Yashaswini's fearless performance helped U Mumba TT secure a 9-6 victory over Stanley's Chennai Lions at Ahmedabad's EKA Arena.Earlier in the day, Jeet Chandra led Jaipur Patriots to a dominant 11-4 win against Ahmedabad SG Pipers. Jeet stunned World No. 34 and World Championships silver medallist Ricardo Walther of Germany with a 2-1 singles victory, one of his biggest wins in the league so far. Jaipur Patriots climbed to the top of the table with this emphatic result.advertisementThe league, held under the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani, continues to grow in stature as India's premier professional table tennis league. All 23 ties across 16 action-packed days are being played at EKA Arena, with matches broadcast live on Star Sports Khel and Star Sports 2 Tamil, and streamed on JioHotstar.
In the U Mumba vs Chennai Lions tie, Lilian Bardet gave U Mumba a strong start with a 2-1 win over Kirill Gerassimenko. Yashaswini then faced Fan Siqi, who was unbeaten this season. Yashaswini dominated the first game 11-5, fell behind 2-7 and later 8-10 in the third game, before fighting back to win 11-10 on Golden Point — handing Fan her first defeat of the season.U Mumba's momentum continued as Akash Pal and Bernadette Szocs combined for a 2-1 mixed doubles win. Though Payas Jain levelled the tie with a 3-0 win over Akash, Szocs delivered a flawless 3-0 victory over Poymantee Baisya to seal the win.advertisementJaipur Patriots also featured strong performances from Kanak Jha, Britt Eerland, and Sreeja Akula, who secured the tie with a comeback win over Ayhika Mukherjee.In the Dream UTT Juniors semifinals, U Mumba TT and Kolkata ThunderBlades booked their spots in the final with solid team efforts, highlighting the league's focus on developing young talent.
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