Sanil Shetty shook off his poor form and set the pace for defending champion Falcons’ commanding 15-6 win over Warriors in the Ultimate Table Tennis league here on Friday.
Making a mockery of World rankings, the 108th ranked Sanil upstaged Commonwealth Games silver medallist and World No. 22 Aruna Quadri 2-1, to follow his straight-set victory over the Nigerian last season.
The left-handed Sanil, who appeared too tentative during the Pune leg, reproduced his aggressive best that helped the side win the title last year. Significantly, Sanil came good on a day when the team needed to lift itself from the bottom of the table, having tallied just 15 points from two encounters.
Moving up in placings
As things stand, after three rounds, Falcons (30 points) is placed third while Warriors (27) have slipped to fifth. For Warriors, unless World No 15 Chih Yuan Chuang, Quadri and 47th-ranked Sharath Kamal come good in the remaining two rounds, a semifinal spot looks difficult.
Sanil, even after defeating Quadri was not done with Warriors. He returned to the arena in the company of Bernadette Szocs and stunned Sharath and Sofia Polcanova in mixed doubles.
The 36th-ranked Szocs, laid low by indisposition, also contributed by shocking 18th-ranked Sofia 2-1 in a match where every set was decided on ‘golden point’.
England’s Liam Pitchford, ranked 49th, played his part to perfection by upsetting Chih Yuan Chuang 2-1 and then stopped an error-prone Sharath by a similar margin to remain unbeaten in four encounters.
Warriors’ lone victory came when 51st-ranked Hana Matelova bounced back to stop Sutitha Mukherjee.
The results: Falcons bt Warriors 15-6 (Matilda Ekholm bt Pooja Saharabuddhe 11-4, 11-3, 11-5; Sanil Shetty bt Aruna Quadri 11-6, 5-11, 11-10; Sanil Shetty & Bernadette Szocs bt Sharath Kamal & Sofia Polcanova 11-4, 11-7, 11-9; Liam Pitchford bt Chih Yuan Chuang 11-10, 5-11, 11-7; Benadette Szocs bt Sofia Polcanova 10-11, 11-10, 11-10; Pitchford bt Sharath 11-9, 11-4, 10-11; Sutirtha Mukherjee lost to Hana Matelova 11-10, 3-11, 5-11) .
