Tennis: Diya Chitale gives U Mumba second consecutive win, defending champions Chennai Lions defeated in a thrilling match

In Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4, the Mumbai team achieved its second consecutive victory. Mumbai beat defending champions Chennai 8-7 at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex on Sunday. Young Indian table tennis player Diya Chitale had an important contribution to Mumbai's victory. Diya earned her team a crucial eighth-team point against world No. 32 Yangzi Liu. She lost her match 6-11, 11-8, 3-11, but by then U Mumba TT had reached the required eight team points to win the match against the defending champions.

In this match, World No. 18 player Kadri Aruna lived up to his reputation from the start of the match and comfortably beat two-time Asian Games gold medalist Achanta Sharath Kamal 3-0 to pick up three valuable additions to his franchise. Points earned. Qadri dominated Sharath from the opening game itself. He went into defensive mode from the start to respond to the powerful shots of the star Indian and then used his accurate forehand to win the first game 11-8. Aruna dominated the seven-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist in the second game as well. He won it with the same score and continued his team's dominance by winning the third game 11-5.

In the second match, Lily Zhang beat Sutirtha Mukherjee 2-1 to take her franchise's lead to 5-1 in the match. It was an exciting match as both the paddlers fought for every point with quick movements and accurate shots. However, in the end, Zhang won the first game 11–10 via a golden point. Golden Point UTT decides the winner when the score is locked at 10 in the game. The six-time US national champion then won the second game 11-7. However, Mukherjee secured a team point for his franchise in the third game with an 11–10 win.

Manav Thakkar and Lily Zhang beat Sharath and Yangzi Liu 2-1 in the third match to give U Mumba TT a 7-2 lead in the match. Sharath and Yangzi Liu displayed excellent coordination to win the first game 11-6. After this, the U Mumba TT pair made a strong comeback to win the second game 11-5. The third game went 11-9 in favor of Thakkar and Zhang.

In the fourth match, Thakkar had to face defeat against Benedict Duda. Duda, a two-time European champion, won 3–0 and made the score 5–7. World No. 34 Duda was in complete control of the match from the very first game as he won the game 11-8 and then won the second game 11-9. The gap between the world rankings of these two was clear and that is why Duda won 11-4 in the last game against the world No. 101. In the end, Diya got her team the eighth point and the Mumbai team won the match.

Also Read: Shubman Gill's rip at number three flopped even after advice from Rahul Dravid and veteran cricketer