It is a franchise from the National capital, but thanks to its captain G. Sathiyan, Dabang Delhi T.T.C. has the ‘home’ advantage in Chennai.
The local hero finally found his rhythm and range to lead his team to its maiden victory in Season 5 of the Ultimate Table Tennis league.
Riding on Sathiyan’s heroics, the Delhi franchise outlasted defending champion Athlead Goa Challengers 9-6 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Wednesday and rose to the second spot in the table.
Sathiyan set the tone by overcoming veteran Mihai Bobocica in an intense and entertaining first rubber.
While the Italian’s forehand top-spin shots were a treat to watch, Sathiyan created a wall with his backhand blocks.
The 18th point of the opening game — a 23-shot rally — left the audience spellbound before Sathiyan missed a forehand topspin shot and handed Bobocica a game point.
After conceding the opening game, Sathiyan played closer to the table from the forehand corner and upped the ante to rattle Bobocica.
Additional motivation
Apart from giving Dabang the lead, Sathiyan had additional motivation: give his wife Subhiksha, who was watching the proceedings from the gallery, a perfect birthday gift.
After prevailing over Bobocica, he teamed up with Orawan Paranang to win the mixed doubles contest against Harmeet Desai and Yangzi Liu.
With the skipper on fire, his teammates were inspired and Dabang lost just one of the five matches.
In fact, Orawan (first women’s singles) and Diya Chitale (final women’s singles) converted golden points against Yangzi and Yashaswini Ghorpade to underline Delhi’s domination.
A study in contrast
While the win improved Dabang’s chances of progressing to the knockouts, Challengers have a tough task in the remaining two matches to keep their title defence alive.
The results:
Dabang Delhi TTC bt Athlead Goa Challengers 9-6 (G. Sathiyan bt Mihai Bobocica 8-11, 11-9, 11-9; Orawan Paranang bt Yangzi Liu 11-7, 11-10, 6-11; Sathiyan & Orawan bt Harmeet Desai & Yangzi Liu 11-7, 11-4, 7-11; Andreas Levenko lost to Harmeet 11-7, 8-11, 9-11; Diya Chitale bt Yashaswani Ghorpade 11-10, 11-6, 3-11).
