Pune: Rising star Manush Shah produced the biggest upset of the Ultimate Table Tennis season 4 to stun World No. 17 Quadri Aruna on Thursday before Puneri Paltan Table Tennis defeated U Mumba TT 10-5 to reach the semi-finals at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge-Balewadi, here.
Puneri Paltan Table Tennis reached the last four of the league with a total of 38 points, while U Mumba TT crashed out with 33 points in the league stage.
The Vadodara boy Manush, who is ranked 133 in the world, extended his brilliant show in the first match (Men’s Singles) of the last league stage tie as well to clinch a thrilling 2-1 win against Quadri and give his franchise a perfect start.
The Puneri Paltan Table Tennis player began the match with positive intent as he used his sparkling forehand shots to unsettle Quadri and took the first game by 11-7. The Nigerian paddler came roaring back to win the second game 11-8 with ferocious shots on both flanks and forced the match into the decider.
The third game went down to the wire as the young Indian paddler gave his all to win the decider by 11-8 and complete a remarkable victory in the league.
Puneri Paltan Table Tennis further extended its lead to 4-2 after Hana Matelova beat Lily Zhang 2-1 in the second match of the tie. Lily took the first game 11-7 before Hana won the second game against the USA paddler through a golden point. The World No. 28 looked in trouble in the third game as Hana won the decider by 11-8.
Manush and Hana defeated Manav Thakkar and Lily 2-1 to take the tie score to 6-3 in favour of Puneri Paltan Table Tennis. Manush and Hana started the match with immaculate coordination and won the first game 11-8 before losing the second by 4-11. The third game went in the favour of the Pune franchise by 11-5.
Manav Thakkar faced defeat in the fourth match (Men’s Singles) of the tie as well as World No. 21 Omar Assar defeated the Indian paddler 2-1 (8-11, 11-8, 11-5) to complete a remarkable victory for Puneri Paltan Table Tennis in the tie.
The last match of the tie went in the favour of Archana Kamath of Puneri Paltan Table Tennis by 2-1 (8-11, 11-10, 11-5) against Diya Chitale.
(IANS)
