Goa Challengers hung on in a cliff-hanger of a final to prevail 8-7 over Chennai Lions for its maiden UTT title at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Sunday.
After Alvaro Robles’ clean sweep against A. Sharath Kamal had put the Goa outfit on the cusp of victory at 7-5 in front of 2200-plus fans, T. Reeth Rishya — the Challengers’ designated finisher for the season — had to win a solitary game against Sutirtha Mukherjee.
Sutirtha fights back
The Olympian Sutirtha, who has been down with a cold, brought the Lions back by holding fort in the opening game. In the second, Reeth backed her consistent backhand topspins to open up a 9-5 gap before enjoying three championship points at 10-7.
Then came a turnaround with Sutirtha hanging on and forcing errors off Reeth’s blade. At 10-10, Reeth appeared to be confused and missed her backhand sidespin service to enforce the deciding 15th game of the rubber.
Reeth backed her aggressive game to get the much-needed point by taking the game to kickstart a prolonged celebration.
Goa Challengers earned a purse of ₹75,00,000 and a glittering trophy while Chennai Lions took home ₹50,00,000. The losing semifinalists — Puneri Paltan TT and Dabang Delhi TTC — won ₹25,00,000.
The result (final):
Goa Challengers bt Chennai Lions 8-7 (Harmeet Desai bt Benedikt Duda 6-11, 11-4, 11-8; Suthasini Sawettabut lost to Yangzi Liu 11-7, 6-11, 5-11; Harmeet & Suthasini lost to A. Sharath Kamal & Yangzi 7-11, 9-11, 11-10; Alvaro Robles bt Sharath 11-8, 11-8, 11-10; T. Reeth Rishya bt Sutirtha Mukherjee 7-11, 10-11, 11-6).
