Latest news with #ChennaiLions
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Sharath Kamal hopes for a Lion-hearted turnaround
Three matches. Three losses, albeit narrow ones. No wonder then that Stanley's Chennai Lions finds itself with its back to the wall in the Ultimate Table Tennis' sixth edition. A. Sharath Kamal, the stalwart in his first official assignment outside the arena having hung up his boots two months ago, wasn't willing to throw in the towel yet. 'We are not where we wanted to be. We have been having ups and downs right from the first match. The first match, at least it was equally placed where we went on to seven-each and we lost the final game,' Sharath, the Lions' mentor, said after the team went down 8-7 against Ahmedabad SG Pipers on Thursday night. 'In the last two ties, we started with a major deficit and that makes it very hard to keep catching up all the time. We have been having some good performances, but we need to start winning up front.' Not only does Chennai Lions now find itself in a must-win position in the next match against U Mumba TT on Saturday but also needs to beat defending champion Dempo Goa Challengers by a huge margin to give itself a chance of getting closer to the knockouts. 'Tough teams, tough matches. I hope we have one big win. On an average, we need to get on to 40, so you need two matches 10 points each. We are capable of doing that,' said Sharath, with the Lions' having accumulated 20 points in its first three games. One of the major problems with the Lions has been the first singles tie where none of their men paddlers has won a game yet. After losing six games on the trot against Kolkata ThunderBlades' Ankur Bhattacharjee and Jaipur Patriots' Kanak Jha, Kirill Gerassimenko was shunted down the order on Thursday. But Payas Jain, the promising Indian, couldn't take a game off Ricardo Walther on Thursday. 'We have been talking to Kirill and he is a quality player. Even Payas was in fantastic shape but went down. That's where we need to have a start, which is at least putting us on an equal plane going into the mixed doubles.'
NDTV
3 days ago
- Sport
- NDTV
UTT: U Mumba Thrash Ahmedabad SG Pipers, Kolkata Thunder Blades Also Win
U Mumba TT bounced back in style, claiming a commanding 10-5 win over Western rivals Ahmedabad SG Pipers in Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 6 on Monday, driven by standout performances from World No. 12 Bernadette Szocs, Lilian Bardet, and Yashaswini Ghorpade. In the earlier tie, Kolkata ThunderBlades registered an 8-7 win on their league debut against Season 3 champions Stanley's Chennai Lions. With the season now underway, all ties will be broadcast on Star Sports Khel and Star Sports 2 Tamil, and streamed live on JioHotstar for fans across the country. Staged under the aegis of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) and promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani, UTT continues to grow as a premier professional league. All 23 ties, over 16 action-packed days, will take place at Ahmedabad's EKA Arena, with tickets available only on BookMyShow. The tie opened with Bardet continuing his strong form, edging Snehit Suravajjula 2-1 after dominating the first game and holding firm in a tense second. Yashaswini, making her first appearance of the season, then delivered a composed 2-1 win over Ayhika Mukherjee, storming through the decider 11-4 after building an 8-0 lead. The momentum stayed with Mumbai as Szocs and Akash Pal teamed up to win the mixed doubles 2-1, holding off a brief comeback from Walther and Ayhika. Akash nearly sealed the tie with an upset in the fourth match, taking the first game against World No. 34 Ricardo Walther before the German rallied to level the score. But Szocs shut the door in the final clash, sweeping Giorgia Piccolin 3-0 to clinch the tie. Yashaswini and Szocs claimed the Indian and the Foreign Player of the Tie awards, respectively, while Ayhika took home the Shot of the Tie honour for a smashing forehand drive in her singles contest. India's 18-year-old prodigy Ankur Bhattacharjee produced the upset of the night, blanking Olympian and World No. 55 Kirill Gerassimenko 3-0 to power debutants Kolkata ThunderBlades to a thrilling win over Stanley's Chennai Lions in their UTT Season 6 opener. Ankur's backhand was in full flow, delivering nine winners in Game 1 alone. He edged the second on Golden Point and sealed the third with authority, earning both Indian Player of the Tie and Shot of the Tie honours. Chennai hit back through World No. 36 Fan Siqi, the league's highest-valued player, who marked her debut with a 3-0 win over Selena Selvakumar. She then teamed up with Payas Jain to take the mixed doubles, though Kolkata snatched a game late. Chennai's hopes faded as Aruna Quadri edged Payas 2-1, and Adriana Diaz sealed the tie with a 3-0 win over Poymantee Baisya. Fan was named Foreign Player of the Tie. Earlier, at the Dream UTT Juniors-by UTT and Dream Sports Foundation-Sahil Rawat excelled in men's singles and mixed doubles, leading Dempo Goa Challengers to a 5-4 victory over Dabang Delhi TTC. Meanwhile, Trishal Surapureddy and Shreya Dhar's singles wins secured a 5-4 victory for Jaipur Patriots against PBG Pune Jaguars. Listen to the latest songs, only on
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
UTT Season 6: U Mumba notch first win vs Ahmedabad SG Pipers; Ankur Bhattacharjee leads Kolkata ThunderBlades
U Mumba TT bounced back in style, claiming a commanding 10-5 win over Western rivals Ahmedabad SG Pipers in IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 6 on Monday, driven by standout performances from World No. 12 Bernadette Szocs, Lilian Bardet, and Yashaswini Ghorpade. In the earlier tie, Kolkata ThunderBlades registered an 8-7 win on their league debut against Season 3 champions Stanley's Chennai Lions. The tie opened with Bardet continuing his strong form, edging Snehit Suravajjula 2-1 after dominating the first game and holding firm in a tense second. Yashaswini, making her first appearance of the season, then delivered a composed 2-1 win over Ayhika Mukherjee, storming through the decider 11-4 after building an 8-0 lead. The momentum stayed with Mumbai as Szocs and Akash Pal teamed up to win the mixed doubles 2-1, holding off a brief comeback from Walther and Ayhika. Akash nearly sealed the tie with an upset in the fourth match, taking the first game against World No. 34 Ricardo Walther before the German rallied to level the score. But Szocs shut the door in the final clash, sweeping Giorgia Piccolin 3-0 to clinch the tie. Yashaswini and Szocs claimed the Indian and the Foreign Player of the Tie awards, respectively, while Ayhika took home the Shot of the Tie honour for a smashing forehand drive in her singles contest. India's 18-year-old prodigy Ankur Bhattacharjee produced the upset of the night, blanking Olympian and World No. 55 Kirill Gerassimenko 3-0 to power debutants Kolkata ThunderBlades to a thrilling win over Stanley's Chennai Lions in their IndianOil UTT Season 6 opener. Ankur's backhand was in full flow, delivering nine winners in Game 1 alone. He edged the second on Golden Point and sealed the third with authority, earning both Indian Player of the Tie and Shot of the Tie honours. Chennai hit back through World No. 36 Fan Siqi, the league's highest-valued player, who marked her debut with a 3-0 win over Selena Selvakumar. She then teamed up with Payas Jain to take the mixed doubles, though Kolkata snatched a game late. Chennai's hopes faded as Aruna Quadri edged Payas 2-1, and Adriana Diaz sealed the tie with a 3-0 win over Poymantee Baisya. Fan was named Foreign Player of the Tie. Earlier, at the Dream UTT Juniors—by IndianOil UTT and Dream Sports Foundation—Sahil Rawat excelled in men's singles and mixed doubles, leading Dempo Goa Challengers to a 5-4 victory over Dabang Delhi TTC. Meanwhile, Trishal Surapureddy and Shreya Dhar's singles wins secured a 5-4 victory for Jaipur Patriots against PBG Pune Jaguars.
The Hindu
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
ThunderBlades edge Lions, begin campaign on a winning note
'Let's make some noise!' It was the mantra for Kolkata ThunderBlades, the latest entrant to the Ultimate Table Tennis bandwagon. The franchise owners left no stone unturned in getting a fan army in the stands and the paddlers responded as they edged past Chennai Lions to start off their sojourn on a winning note. Setting the tone Ankur Bhattacharjee blanked the fancied Kirill Gerassimenko 3-0 to set the tone before Adriana Diaz, the Puerto Rican world No. 17, marked her return to UTT after seven years by winning the deciding game of the tie against former national champion Poymantee Baisya to hand ThunderBlades an 8-7 win. Ankur was the pick of the day's proceedings. After overpowering the world No. 55 in the opening game, the second game witnessed a spree of rallies with Gerassimenko trying to take control. Ankur's class was displayed in the 23-shot rally at 8-7 in the second game when the Indian finished it off with a forehand top-spin. In the third game, the backhand jab followed by a robust backhand winner at 9-7 left Gerassimenko stunned. Even though Fan Siqi brought parity to the tie with a clean slate against Selenadeepthi Selvakumar, the last game that Ankur and Diaz snatched in the mixed doubles against Payas Jain and Fan proved to be crucial. Jain also had an impressive UTT debut as he stretched Quadri to the hilt before the African veteran claimed a narrow win. The results: Kolkata ThunderBlades bt Stanley's Chennai Lions 8-7 (Ankur Bhattacharjee bt Kirill Gerassimenko 11-4, 11-10, 11-7; Selenadeepthi Selvakumar lost to Fan Siqi 8-11, 10-11, 6-11; Ankur & Adriana Diaz lost to Payas Jain & Fan 6-11, 4-11, 11-8; Quadri Aruna bt Payas Jain 11-3, 8-11, 11-9; Adriana bt Poymantee Baisya 11-6, 7-11, 11-6). U Mumba TT bt Ahmedabad SG Pipers 10-5 (Lilian Bardet bt SFR Snehit 11-4, 11-9, 4-11; Yashaswini Ghorpade bt Ayhika Mukherjee 8-11, 11-7, 11-4; Bernadette Szocs & Akash Pal bt Ayhika & Ricardo Walther 11-4, 10-11, 11-6; Pal lost to Walther 11-8, 6-11, 5-11; Szocs bt Georgia Piccolin 11-4, 11-10, 11-9). Tuesday's fixture: Jaipur Patriots vs Chennai Lions (5 p.m.).
