Sanil Shetty pulls of upset against world no 22

Mumbai paddler Sanil Shetty got a break in the Indian Commonwealth Games squad recently only after Soumyajit Ghosh was suspended. He returned with a team gold medal now he is building on his performance in the ongoing Ultimate Table Tennis League.

The 28-year-old upset world no 22 Aruna Quadri to inspire Falcons TTC to a big 15-6 victory against Warriors at the Thyagaraj Stadium on Friday. Sanil then paired up with Bernadette Szocs to engineer another crucial victory 3-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-9) over the formidable duo of  Sharath Kamal and Sofia Polcanova. His double wins helped Falcons TTC jump into a comfortable 8-1 lead after the first three matches.

Before the tournament, Sanil had reiterated that he will be one to look out for in the UTT. A win against someone like Quadri has kept his word. His emotions were sky-high after the win. “This is probably the biggest win of my career. A win against someone as big as Aruna Quadri is really important,” he said.

The Mumbai ace had lost to Kristian Karlsson of Maharashtra United 3-0 in their first tie at Balewadi last week, however Sanil did enough to impress the Swedish master in Pune earlier.

“The game against Sanil was a tough one, he is one of the best Indian Table Tennis players and playing against him infront of Indian supporters was challenging too. But as the game started, I was focused and fought for every point, he didn’t give up until the last point either. So the game was good but I felt he was nervous too as he is a better performer, his plays better than what he played against me,” Karlsson opined about his opening game with Sanil.

Shetty, ranked 88 places below Quadri, staged a brilliant fightback in the third game to seal a well-deserved win, the best in his career. With the clash tied 1-1 after the first two games and down 7-10, he attacked fearlessly to take three straight points.

He won the golden point too, using his powerful forehand smash to good effect for a 2-1 win. Sanil began on a bright note by pocketing the first game 11-6 only to find the 2018 Commonwealth Games double silver medallist levelling the scores 1-1.

Nigeria’s Quadri appeared to have put the game beyond the Indian’s reach by taking a decisive lead but Shetty pulled off a coup with his wristy flicks and returns.

Falcons captain Liam Pitchford too played his part, winning both his singles 2-1 each. Matilda Ekholm and Bernadette also won to extend their domination over Warriors. In the last match, Hana Matelova won 2-1 against Sutirtha Mukherjee for Warriors’ only success of the evening.

Earlier, Matilda provided a fluent start to the defending champions with an easy 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-5) win over Pooja Sahasrabuddhe. The World No. 35 Swede was too strong for the 26-year-old Indian.

Pitchford and Soczs powered Falcons’ march by upstaging higher ranked players. While World No. 49 Pitchford downed World No. 15 Chih Yuan Chuang 2-1 (10-11, 11-5, 11-7), Bernadette, ranked World No. 36, upset World No. 18 Sofia Polcanova (10-11, 11-10, 11-10) in a thriller with all three games being decided by the golden point.

Pitchford also won the battle of captains by defeating World No. 47 Achanta Sharath Kamal 2-1 (11-9, 11-4, 10-11).