Pune: Former Commonwealth Games singles gold medallist Manika Batra of Bengaluru Smashers stamped her authority with a dominating show against Hana Matelova of Puneri Paltan Table Tennis in the ongoing Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 4 at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex on Sunday.
Manika, India’s highest-ranked player who won the women’s singles gold medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, thumped the Czech paddler 2-1 to register her third women’s singles victory in season 4 for Bengaluru Smashers.
The franchise-based league, promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani under the auspices of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), saw Bengaluru Smashers making a good start on Sunday.
Manika, the World No.35, showed immaculate control on her backhand early on to win the first game 11-9 before Hana fought back brilliantly to clinch the second game 11-8 and took the match into the decider.However, Manika held her nerves and pocketed the third game 11-6 as well the match.
Earlier, World No.58 Kirill Gerassimenko beat 2018 ITTF African-Cup champion Omar Assar 2-1 to give Bengaluru franchise a perfect start.The World No.23 Omar began the first game in aggressive mode and targeted the flanks to win it by 11-8 before Kirill made an astonishing comeback to clinch the second game through a golden point.
The third game also went to the golden point where the Kazak paddler showcased immense mental fortitude to take the game and match.
–IANS