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India Today
a day ago
- Sport
- India Today
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 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 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 Patriots also featured strong performances from Kanak Jha, Britt Eerland, and Sreeja Akula, who secured the tie with a comeback win over Ayhika 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.
Hans India
a day ago
- Sport
- Hans India
UTT Season 6: Stanley's Chennai Lions eye breakthrough against Harmeet Desai-driven Dempo Goa Challengers
Stanley's Chennai Lions will be searching for their first tie win of the campaign when they take on reigning champions Dempo Goa Challengers in the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 6 on Monday. Chennai may still be searching for their first tie win of the season, but UTT's distinctive format–where every game matters–has kept them firmly in the playoff conversation. Despite four straight defeats, Chennai sit fifth on the table, level on points with Dempo Goa Challengers, thanks to narrow margins and consistent game hauls. With an average of 6.5 games won per tie, they remain one of the most dangerous teams in the league – even without a tie win. Much of that credit goes to Fan Siqi and Payas Jain. China's Fan, who suffered her first loss of the season against Yashaswini Ghorpade in the previous tie, remains one of the league's most dominant paddlers across serve and shot stats. Payas, meanwhile, has quietly become one of the most complete players in the league - his serve success ranks second (64%), forehand fourth (51%), and backhand inside the top 10. A possible face-off between him and Harmeet Desai - Goa's unbeaten talisman - could be pivotal. Fan's potential match-up against Zeng Jian or Krittwika Sinha Roy, both of whom are also yet to lose this season, is one to keep an eye on, too. Reigning champions Dempo Goa Challengers come in as the more settled outfit, gunning for a third straight playoffs appearance. At the core of their campaign are Harmeet, Zeng, and Krittwika – collectively contributing 18 of Goa's 26 points (after three ties). Harmeet, in particular, has been sharp, boasting the third-best backhand win rate in the league (42%), while Zeng continues to boss both flanks with top-five win percentages on forehand and backhand. With Tiago Apolonia and the Harmeet-Zeng duo still looking for consistency in doubles, Goa will be eyeing this tie as a chance to firm up their top-four credentials. However, Chennai's resilience and their ability to keep every tie close mean this could be a crucial swing fixture in the playoff race. Squads- Stanley's Chennai Lions: Fan Siqi (China), Kirill Gerassimenko (Kazakhstan), Payas Jain, Sudhanshu Grover, Poymantee Baisya, Nikhat Banu. Dempo Goa Challengers: Zeng Jian (Singapore), Harmeet Desai, Tiago Apolonia (Portugal), Ronit Bhanja, Krittwika Sinha Roy, Sayali Wani.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
UTT Season 6: Rising star Yashaswini Ghorpade topples China's Fan Siqi as U Mumba beat Chennai Lions
20-year-old Indian paddler Yashaswini Ghorpade sparked one of the big upsets of Ultimate Table Tennis season 6, beating former world number 11 Fan Siqi to help U Mumba TT seal a victory over Stanley's Chennai Lions this weekend. Ghorpade upset the Chinese player, ranked nearly 40 points ahead of her in the world rankings, winning the first game with ease 11-5, before coming back to seal the second 11-10. It was a show both of great promise and commendable resilience, as Ghorpade came back from 2-7 and 8-10 down in the second game, saving game point and then winning the match with a conversion on Golden Point. The Indian rising star became the first player to beat Fan Siqi in this year's edition of the UTT, and her victory helped U Mumba seal the victory over Chennai 9-6 in the tie. Yashaswini has already tasted victory in the UTT, having won season five while representing Goa Challengers as a teenager. Currently ranked 81 in the world, she is looking to continue a strong rise up the world rankings, which currently have five women from India ranked in the top 100. U Mumba rose to second in the table thanks to the win, with rising star Yashaswini supported by Lilian Bardet sealing the men's singles tie, before a mixed doubles win sealed the tie. World number 12 Bernadette Szocs put an exclamation mark on proceedings with a 3-0 victory in the second women's singles match of the tie. However, a commanding 11-4 win for Jaipur Patriots over Ahmedabad SG Pipers means the Rajasthan team remain at the top of the table. Yashaswini's win wasn't the only Indian upset on the day, as Jeet Chandra registered a win in the men's singles for the Patriots, beating world number 34 of Germany, Ricardo Walther.
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Jaipur Patriots proves too good for Chennai Lions
In a tale of contrasting halves, Jaipur Patriots overcame Chennai Lions to register its maiden win in the sixth edition of the Ultimate Table Tennis at the EKA Arena on Tuesday. Despite the eventual margin of 9-6 indicating a close contest, one cannot describe the Patriots' victory as nail-biting. After all, the Patriots had raced to an unassailable 8-0 lead. But by the time Fan Siqi — the first Chinese entrant in the UTT — conceded the last game of the tie to Britt Earland, the Lions camp wore a cheerful look. In a league where every game won matters a lot in the eventual standings, the six-game winning spree despite having lost the battle could prove handy for the Lions in the eventual war. Three golden points. Three wins. Back to back to back. 🫨 📺 Watch IndianOil UTT Season 6 live on JioHotstar and the Star Sports network. 👉 — Ultimate Table Tennis (@UltTableTennis) June 3, 2025 In that respect, Fan's exploits and Payas Jain's clean slate in singles has kept the Lions' in the qualification race despite losing both their ties so far. The proceedings, however, underlined just how crucial the three golden points were in the opening singles between American Kanak Jha and Kirill Gerassimenko. Had Jha not converted each of the three golden points, the scoreline could well have finished in favour of the Lions. But Jha kept his nerve as Gerassimenko ended up losing six games to give Patriots the early advantage. Fancied Sreeja Akula then mixed her long-pimpled backhand and powerful forehand winners to double the advantage with a 3-0 scoreline against Poymantee Baisya. The singles players of Patriots then combined in the mixed doubles to take the first two games off Payas and Fan to seal the tie. Sreeja's masterclass keeps the Patriots unbeaten for the tie thus far 👀 📺 Watch IndianOil UTT Season 6 live on JioHotstar and the Star Sports network. 👉 — Ultimate Table Tennis (@UltTableTennis) June 3, 2025 The result: Jaipur Patriots bt Stanley's Chennai Lions 9-6 (Kanak Jha bt Kirill Gerassimenko 11-10, 11-10, 11-10; Sreeja Akula bt Poymantee Baisya 11-6, 11-6, 11-9; Sreeja & Jha bt Fan Siqi & Payas Jain 11-4, 11-7, 8-11; Yashansh Malik lost to Payas 10-11, 5-11, 7-11; Britt Earland lost to Fan Siqi 8-11, 6-11, 11-7). Wednesday's fixtures: Dabang Delhi TTC vs Dempo Goa Challengers (5 p.m.); PBG Pune Jaguars vs Kolkata ThunderBlades (7.30 p.m.).
