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The Hindu
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Leader Szocs soaks in U Mumba's triumph
Days after winning a silver medal in women's doubles at the World Table Tennis Championship, Bernadette Szocs, the Romanian paddler, arrived in Ahmedabad with an eye on building on the World Championship glory. Three weeks later, on Sunday night, Szocs couldn't hide her emotions after lifting the glittering Ultimate Table Tennis trophy as the U Mumba captain. Moments after a prolonged celebration at the EKA Arena and before joining her teammates at the hotel for a party, Szocs recalled her statement at the pre-tournament media briefing on May 29. 'I waited so much for this. In the first interview I gave, I said that I would like to bring the first title for U Mumba, and I did it,' an elated Szocs said. 'I am very proud of myself and my teammates and the support staff. They have given everything for us for this title. We were a dream team. We had an amazing spirit in the team, and this is our secret for bringing the title home for U Mumba.' Ever since UTT's inception, the Mumbai outfit has been one of the underachieving outfits. On Sunday, though, with Szocs winning five of her six points, U Mumba defeated Jaipur Patriots to claim its maiden title. 'This gives me a lot of motivation for the future, a lot of confidence. When I came here, I was under a little pressure. I'm very happy after this dream result,' Szocs said. While one would have expected the victory party to carry on till early morning, with the tight schedules that top paddlers work around, there was very little time. Even before sunrise, Szocs and her French teammate Lilian Bardet had to board a flight for a WTT event in Slovenia. 'I want to celebrate it very well, but I am going to Slovenia for WTT, so I don't have time. But I will make sure that I celebrate it with the people who were next to me, who supported me and believed in me'.
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Hindu
Szocs leads from the front as U Mumba clinches maiden title
U Mumba TT didn't have much time to recover after a thriller of a semifinal on Saturday night. The draw ended up being extremely challenging against it. Still, U Mumba overcame all the challenges to lay its hands on the coveted Ultimate Table Tennis trophy for the first time by polishing Jaipur Patriots off 8-4 in the summit clash on Sunday. Riding on an all-round performance — with captain Bernadette Szocs leading from the front — U Mumba controlled the final ever since Lilian Bardet bounced back after conceding the opening game to Patriots' captain Kanak Jha. The convincing win meant U Mumba was richer by ₹60 lakh, with Patriots getting ₹40 lakh for the runners-up spot. The semifinalists — Dempo Goa Challengers and Dabang Delhi TT — each received a cheque worth ₹17.50 lakh. Despite Jha being an overwhelming favourite to put Patriots in charge, Bardet gained control and his audacious winners forced the former into errors. Once he put U Mumba in lead, Szocs doubled the advantage by avenging her league stage loss to Sreeja Akula, the only unbeaten player in the tournament. Besides her heavy forehand topspins, it was world No. 12 Szocs' ability to block Sreeja's powerful forehand winners that turned out to be the difference. At 4-2, Szocs remained in the arena with Akash Pal — India's best doubles player — joining her. The duo eased past Jeet Chandra and Britt Eerland with a clean slate. The highlight was Pal's side-spins from the back of the court and exceptional down-the-line winners he produced. It put U Mumba on the cusp of a triumph, leading 7-2. All that was required of P.B. Abhinandh or Yashaswini Ghorpade was to snatch a game off their senior opponents. Calculated risks While Jeet's calculated risks paved off in the first two games, Abhinandh — who wasted a 6-2 lead in the second — was exceptional with his serves in the third to close out the game and with it the tie. It meant Yashaswini, the star of Saturday's great escape against Goa Challengers, entered the arena only to join in the celebrations. The result: U Mumba TT bt Jaipur Patriots 8-4 (Lilian Bardet bt Kanak Jha 4-11, 11-5, 11-7; Bernadette Szocs bt Sreeja Akula 11-9, 10-11, 11-5; Szocs & Akash Pal bt Britt Eerland & Jeet Chandra 11-6, 11-5, 11-5; P.B. Abhinandh lost to Jeet Chandra 5-11, 8-11, 11-8).
