Serving it up: Manika finished on the winning side in both matches, including the one against Ayhika.
| Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam
Bengaluru Smashers scripted its second successive win in Season 5 of the Ultimate Table Tennis league with a 10-5 victory over Puneri Paltan here on Monday.
Paltan’s Ankur Bhattacharjee, rated high by India’s head coach Massimo Costantini, had beaten Lilian Bardet, ranked 90th in the world (102 places above him) the other day. Against Jeet Chandra in the opening men’s singles, Ankur was on fire as he registered a 2-1 win.
The 17-year-old, who plays with a devil-may-care attitude, hits with tremendous accuracy on both flanks. Against Jeet, who is equally aggressive, it was Ankur’s consistency in attack that fetched rewards. However, Ankur’s win turned out to be the only one for Paltan.
Cautious start
The women’s singles contest between Ayhika Mukhjerjee and Manika Batra went the distance. Both started cautiously, gauging each other’s game and waiting for the other to commit mistakes.
After splitting the first two games, it looked like Manika would run away with the third as she took a 4-0 lead.
Ayhika fought back to 4-4 but Manika served well in the middle phase, took a 10-6 lead and it was all over when Ayhika’s forehand sailed long.
Spaniard Alvaro Robles, ranked 30th in singles, displayed his doubles skills as he combined well with Manika to put it across Anirban Ghosh and Natalia Bajor 2-1.
Paltan’s Joao Monteiro, ranked 92, gave a tough fight to Robles ranked 62 places above him.
In an exciting match between the left-handers, who were involved in long exchanges, Robles outlasted the Portuguese 2-1.
Smashers sealed the issue in style as Lily Zhang trounced Paltan’s S. Yashini 3-0.
The results:
Bengaluru Smashers bt Puneri Paltan 10-5 (Jeet Chandra lost to Ankur Bhattacharjee 6-11, 11-5, 7-11; Manika Batra bt Ayhika Mukherjee 8-11, 11-5, 11-6; Alvaro Robles & Manika bt Anirban Ghosh & Natalia Bajor 11-6, 8-11, 11-10; Robles bt Joao Monteiro 11-5, 10-11, 11-8; Lily Zhang bt Yashini Sivashankar 11-9, 11-9, 11-5).