Sanil Shetty shines as Falcons take winning lead

Falcons TTC rode on Sanil Shetty and Lee Ho Ching's victories to take a winning 14-1 lead over Oilmax Stag Yoddhas on day seven of Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) here today.
Shetty provided Falcons a flying start with an upset win over Quadri Aruna of Yoddhas and later followed it up by partnering Lee Ho Ching for a 3-0 win over Abhishek Yadav and Doo Hoi Kem in the mixed doubles.
Falcons had taken a commanding 9-0 lead after Wu Yang had blanked Manika Batra by three games to nil.
In the opening tie, Shetty, the world No. 201 stunned Quadri, ranked 29, with a range of attacking shots and won the tie 11-6. He kept the pressure on his Nigerian rival and won a close second game 11-10.

There was no let-up for the Yoddhas star as Shetty kept hitting impressive shots to capture the third game also, to give Falcons a dream start.
It was Shetty's second win over a foreign player in the tournament having beaten Portugal's Tiago Apolonia earlier.

In the second match, Wu Yang quelled the challenge of a determined Manika Batra 11-5, 11-10, 11-8 to put Falcons 6-0 ahead.
Batra fought hard and was on the verge of capturing the second game but couldn't close it out. Yang used her experience to put it across the Indian, who made errors at crucial junctures.

The mixed doubles encounter saw the in-form Shetty and Ching outclass the Yoddhas duo of Yadav and Kem 11-5, 11-7, 11-8.
In the fourth rubber, Swedish veteran Par Gerell bounced back after losing the opening game to get the better of Tomislav Pucar 9-11, 11-5, 11-9 to extend Falcons' lead to 11 -1.
Ching won her second match of the night, by hammering Polina Mihailova 11-3, 11-6, 11-4 to dash the Yoddhas' hopes.