Ultimate Table Tennis: Falcons TTC stage stunning comeback to win against RP-SG Mavericks

Chennai: Wu Yang and Par Gerell did the star turn as Falcons TTC hit back strongly from being 5-7 down to beat RP-SG Mavericks 15-12 in the inaugural clash of Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor stadium on Thursday.

Mavericks were ahead 7-5 after four matches despite ace Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal’s defeat in the inaugural encounter but Yang and Gerell posted impressive wins over the young Archana Kamath and Tiago Apolonia to help the team take an unassailable lead.

In the ninth and last encounter, Safia Polcanova pulled things back for the Mavericks by winning 3-0.

India’s Sanil Shetty too had a big hand in the win as he upset Apolonia in the sixth match.

Gerell had in the first tie in the evening, defeated local star Sharath Kamal.

Kamal representing Mavericks lost a close three-game encounter to Par Gerell of Falcons 11-6, 8-11, 11-9.

Mavericks pulled things back when India international Suthirtha Mukherjee of Falcons lost in straight games to Sabine Winter. Winter won 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 as Mavericks led by 4-2 games.

Under UTT rules, all matches are best of three and winning team needs to win 14 out of 27 games to win the tie.

In the mixed doubles match that followed, the Falcons pair of Lee Ho Ching and Sanil Shetty pulled back with a 11-8, 8-11, 11-5 against Kamal and Safia Polcanova. The Mavericks still maintained a 5-4 lead even as Falcons narrowed the gap.

However, Mavericks extended the lead in the fourth match when Austrian Stefan Fegerl secured a 11-6, 11-9, 9-11 victory.

Earlier, former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand inaugurated the tournament and played a game with Niraj Bajaj, co-promoter of UTT.