Goa Challengers hung on in a cliff-hanger of a final to prevail 8-7 over Chennai Lions for its maiden UTT title at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Sunday.
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After Alvaro Robles’ clean sweep against A. Sharath Kamal had put the Goa outfit on the cusp of victory at 7-5 in front of 2200-plus fans, T. Reeth Rishya — the Challengers’ designated finisher for the season — had to win a solitary game against Sutirtha Mukherjee.
Sutirtha fights back
The Olympian Sutirtha, who has been down with a cold, brought the Lions back by holding fort in the opening game. In the second, Reeth backed her consistent backhand topspins to open up a 9-5 gap before enjoying three championship points at 10-7.
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Then came a turnaround with Sutirtha hanging on and forcing errors off Reeth’s blade. At 10-10, Reeth appeared to be confused and missed her backhand sidespin service to enforce the deciding 15th game of the rubber.
Reeth backed her aggressive game to get the much-needed point by taking the game to kickstart a prolonged celebration.
Goa Challengers earned a purse of ₹75,00,000 and a glittering trophy while Chennai Lions took home ₹50,00,000. The losing semifinalists — Puneri Paltan TT and Dabang Delhi TTC — won ₹25,00,000.
The result (final):
Goa Challengers bt Chennai Lions 8-7 (Harmeet Desai bt Benedikt Duda 6-11, 11-4, 11-8; Suthasini Sawettabut lost to Yangzi Liu 11-7, 6-11, 5-11; Harmeet & Suthasini lost to A. Sharath Kamal & Yangzi 7-11, 9-11, 11-10; Alvaro Robles bt Sharath 11-8, 11-8, 11-10; T. Reeth Rishya bt Sutirtha Mukherjee 7-11, 10-11, 11-6).