Ultimate Table Tennis | G Sathiyan and Manika Batra lead Dabang Smashers to another win

India’s highest-ranked table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and CWG medalist Manika Batra proved their class as they led Dabang Smashers to an emphatic victory over Falcons TTC in the Pune leg of the UTT tournament.

Manika squeezed past World No. 30 Matilda Ekholm 2-1 (8-11, 11-10, 11-10) in a pulsating duel in the opening encounter to give the Smashers the start they required. Japanese World Number 27 Yoshida Masaki downed Sanil Shetty 3-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-4) and an impressive victory in the mixed doubles saw the Season 1 semi-finalists race to an 8-1 lead. 

India’s top-ranked male player and Dabang Smashers’ captain Gnanasekaran Sathiyan also came up with another dazzling display by turning in two winning performances on the day. He first teamed up with Japanese Sakura Mori to win their mixed doubles 3-0 against Sanil Shetty and Bernadette Szocs before extending his unbeaten run in singles since last season by upstaging Spain’s Alvaro Robles 3-0 (11-10, 11-6, 11-6).