UTT Season 4: Achanta Sharath Kamal starts with a bang, Chennai Lions beat Puneri Paltan in opener

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Pune, July 13: The IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4 began with some exhilarating action as defending champions Chennai Lions began their title defence with a commanding victory over Puneri Paltan Table Tennis here at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge-Balewadi in Pune on Thursday (July 13).

Chennai Lions played brilliantly right from the start of the tie and defeated Puneri Paltan Table Tennis by 10-5 team points to make a positive start to the tournament.

In the first match of the tie (Men's Singles), Chennai Lions' ace paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal beat Omar Assar by 2-1 to gain two valuable team points for his franchise. The Indian paddler defeated Omar 11-10, 9-11, 11-6 in Game 1 with his aggressive play and precise shots.

Chennai Lions' Yangzi Liu was up against Archana Kamath in the second match (Women's Singles) and secured 2-1 victory to put her franchise 4-2 ahead in the tie. The Australian paddler won the first two games 11-5, 11-10 before losing the third game by 10-11 against Archana.

In the third match of the tie, Chennai Lions' pair of Sharath/Yangzi faced Omar/Archana (Mixed Doubles) and registered a 3-0 victory as they took a 7-2 lead in the tie. The winning pair dominated the match from the start and won the three games 11-5, 11-8, and 11-2, respectively.

Puneri Paltan Table Tennis' Manush Shah put up a good fight against Chennai Lions' Benedikt Duda. However, it wasn't enough to bring his franchise back into the tie as Benedikt won the match by 2-1 (11-9, 11-7, 7-11) and clinched the first tie of the IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4, powered by DafaNews, for the defending champions.

In the final match of the tie, Sutirtha Mukherjee went up against Hana Matelova. Hana was the only paddler from Puneri Paltan Table Tennis to win a match as she defeated Sutirtha 2-1 (11-6, 5-11, 11-2) in a dominating fashion.

All the ties will start at 7.30 PM with broadcast on Sports 18 and streamed on JioCinema. The tickets will be available on BookMyShow.