PUNE: Young Indian paddler Diya Chitale bagged a crucial eighth team point against World No.32 Yangzi Liu to secure a thrilling victory for U Mumba TT against Chennai Lions in the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) Season 4 at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Sunday. The Mumbai girl, however, lost her match by 6-11, 11-8, 3-11 against Liu after U Mumba TT reached the necessary eight team points required to win the tie against the defending champions. In the end, the overall score was 8-7 in favour of the Mumbai-based franchise. The franchise-based league, promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani under the auspices of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), started on a good note for U Mumba. World No.18 Quadri Aruna lived up to his reputation from the start of the tie and comfortably defeated the two-time Asian Games gold medallist Achanta Sharath Kamal 3-0 to earn three valuable team points for his franchise. The Nigerian paddler was all over Sharath in the opening game. He went into defensive mode early on to return the powerful shots of the star Indian player before unleashing his precise forehands to win the first game 11-8. The second game also saw Aruna dominating the seven-times Commonwealth Games gold medallist as he won it with the same scoreline before taking the third game 11-5 to give his franchise a perfect start in the tie. IANS
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