In the fourth match of the Ultimate Table Tennis 2023, two unbeaten teams of the season - Chennai Lions and U Mumba TT faced off in Pune on Sunday. The tie promised a close contest, and it delivered the same. U Mumba TT won the tie 8-7 to go to the top of the points table.
In the first match, Sharath Kamal was stunned by U Mumba TT's Quadri Aruna as he won the match 3-0. Aruna took the initial lead, but Sharath Kamal bounced back to make it 7-7.
Aruna then finished off the game 11-8. He raced to 8-2 in the second game and clinched it 11-8. Quadri proved too good for Sharath Kamal in the third game as he ended with 11-5.
Sutirtha Mukherjee and Lily Zhang faced in the second match. Lily Zhang of U Mumba won the first game through Golden Point. In the second, she dominated completely to win by 11-7.
The third game witnessed Sutirtha win the golden point to open the account for Chennai Lions. U Mumba led the tie 5-1 after the second match.
The mixed doubles also went U Mumba TT's way. Sharath/Yangzi and U Mumba TT's Manav/Lily faced in the mixed doubles match.
The Chennai Lions pair dominated the first game and won it 11-6. Manav and Lily bounced back to win the next game 11-5. The final game witnessed some attacking shots from the Chennai Lions, but the U Mumba pair edged past them to win it 11-9.
Benedikt Duda faced Manav Thakkar in the fourth match. The Chennai paddler bought the team back into the attack by defeating Manav Thakkar 11-8, 11-9, and 11-4. With this victory, Chennai Lions moved to 5-7.
Yangzi Liu and Diya Chitale met in the final match of the day. Chitale needed to win only one game to seal the victory for U Mumba. Yangzi Liu needed to win all three games to clinch the victory.
Yangzi Liu won the first game and took the early lead in the second. Diya Chitale managed to take the second game and help U Mumba reach 8 game points. Yangzi Liu won the final game 11-3.
Ultimate Table Tennis 2023 Points Table: Updated after Match 4
After the end of Match 4, U Mumba moves to the top of the table with 18 team points. They have one point more than Chennai Lions, who are currently in the second position with one win and one loss.
Goa Challengers are in the third spot with one win, while Bengaluru Smashers, Puneri Paltan TTC, and Dabang Delhi TTC are in the bottom half of the table.