In a story of contrasting halves, Jaipur Patriots overcame Chennai Lions to register its maiden win within the sixth version of the Ultimate Table Tennis on the EKA Arena on Tuesday.
Despite the eventual margin of 9-6 indicating a detailed contest, one can not describe the Patriots’ victory as nail-biting. After all, the Patriots had raced to an unassailable 8-0 lead. But by the point Fan Siqi — the primary Chinese entrant within the UTT — conceded the final recreation of the tie to Britt Earland, the Lions camp wore a cheerful look.
In a league the place each recreation received issues quite a bit within the eventual standings, the six-game successful spree regardless of having misplaced the battle may show helpful for the Lions within the eventual battle.
In that respect, Fan’s exploits and Payas Jain’s clear slate in singles has saved the Lions’ within the qualification race regardless of shedding each their ties thus far.
The proceedings, nonetheless, underlined simply how essential the three golden factors had been within the opening singles between American Kanak Jha and Kirill Gerassimenko. Had Jha not transformed every of the three golden factors, the scoreline may nicely have completed in favour of the Lions.
Sreeja Akula of Jaipur Patriots in motion through the match towards Stanley’s Chennai Lions within the Ultimate Table Tennis League – Season 6 held at EKA Arena in Ahmedabad on third June 2025.
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But Jha saved his nerve as Gerassimenko ended up shedding six video games to offer Patriots the early benefit. Fancied Sreeja Akula then combined her long-pimpled backhand and highly effective forehand winners to double the benefit with a 3-0 scoreline towards Poymantee Baisya.
The singles gamers of Patriots then mixed within the combined doubles to take the primary two video games off Payas and Fan to seal the tie.
The consequence: 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 misplaced to Payas 10-11, 5-11, 7-11; Britt Earland misplaced 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.).
Published – June 03, 2025 08:02 pm IST
