UTT 2025 | U Mumba pulls off a Houdini, sneaks into the summit clash

Making a level: Yashaswini held her nerve and blanked Krittwika to seal the deal.
| Photo Credit: particular association

Never had a workforce made a comeback after trailing 4-7 in an Ultimate Table Tennis knockout match.

And by no means had U Mumba TT been in a position to breach the semifinal barrier in the first 5 editions. Both the firsts have been achieved on Saturday, courtesy P.B. Abhinandh and Yashaswini Ghorpade – two of the most rising paddlers on the Indian desk tennis horizon.

With his again in opposition to the wall and trailing 0-2 in opposition to Vitor Ishiy, Abhinandh lastly discovered a solution to Ishiy’s serve and stretched the match into the deciding tie.

Yashaswini – the Bengaluru lady – then held her nerves and blanked Krittwika Sinha Roy 3-0 on the final level of the match.

After closing out the first two video games, Yashaswini raced to a 10-6 lead, Krittwika lastly getting trapped into Yashaswini’s long-pimpled backhand.

But Krittwika then had a four-point spree. But the golden level noticed Krittwika lastly hit her backhand lengthy to let the U Mumba camp burst into a wild bout of celebration.

Earlier, captain Harmeet Desai couldn’t have gotten the Challengers off to a higher begin than a clear slate in opposition to Lilian Bardet. Despite Bardet having been his bogey participant in UTT in the previous, Harmeet went all out together with his forehand winners to not let Bardet get into his sport.

But Bernadette Szocs – the highest ranked paddler in UTT at No. 12 in ladies’s – introduced U Mumba again in the sport by inflicting the first defeat on Zeng Jian.

When Szocs and Akash Pal – the doubles specialist who got here up with gorgeous forehand side-spins near his physique – lowered the deficit to 4-5, U Mumbai was again in the match. Ishiy – the alternative participant who got here in for Tiago Apolonia in direction of the finish of the league stage – then put Goa on the cusp of a win. But then began the nice escape!

The end result: U Mumba TT bt Dempo Goa Challengers 8-7 (Lilian Bardet misplaced to Harmeet Desai 8-11, 4-11, 10-11; Bernadette Szocs bt Zeng Jian 11-5, 11-9, 7-11; Szocs & Akash Pal bt Zeng & Desai 11-8, 11-8, September 11; P.B. Abhinandh misplaced to Vitor Ishiy 6-11, 4-11, 11-9; Yashaswini Ghorpade bt Krittwika Sinha Roy 11-9, 11-9, 11-10).