UTT: U Mumba, Goa Challengers look to stay in playoffs race

Chennai, Sep 1 (IANS) Defending champions Goa Challengers will look for the final push to stay in the race for the playoffs of the Ultimate Table Tennis when they lock horns with U Mumba TT in their last league encounters at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Monday.

For both teams stuck in the mid-table logjam with 29 points each, Monday’s face-off will serve as the final showdown to keep themselves in the hunt as the race for the playoffs heats up with at least two more teams also in the fray for the top-four. A win for either side will give them the cushion for a potential reckoning in the play-offs pecking order.

U Mumba TT are slightly ahead at No.4 in the leaderboard, given that they have won 11 matches in contrast to No.5 ranked Athlead Goa Challengers, after winning 8 matches. Both sides boast of a star-studded line-up that spices up the contest even more.

Having completed a 9-6 win over the Chennai Lions in their previous encounter, the Goa-based side will be hoping for another stellar finish although it won’t be an easy task against U Mumba TT, who will be back in action after clinching a nervy 8-7 victory against Chennai Lions in their previous tie.

While the Mumbai-based outfit will pin their hopes on the likes of world No 20 Quadri Aruna of Nigeria, and Indian stars Manav Thakkar and Sutirtha Mukherjee, the Athlead Goa Challengers have a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist in Harmeet Desai and the experienced Australian Yangzi Liu in their ranks.

Squads:

U Mumba TT: Manav Thakkar, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Aruna Quadri (Nigeria), Akash Pal, Kavyasree Baskar, Maria Xiao (Spain)

Goa Challengers: Harmeet Desai, Yangzi Liu (Australia), Yashaswini Ghorpade, Sudhanshu Grover, Sayali Wani, Mihai Bobocica (Italy).

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