Sanil, Szocs sparkle in Falcons' big win in UTT

Sanil Shetty and Bernadette Szocs Powered defending champions Falcons TTC to a comprehensive 15-6 victory over Empowerji Challengers in the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT), here.

The 28-year-old Sanil lost his singles match 0-3 to France's Simon Gauzy but bounced back in the mixed doubles, pairing with Bernadette Szocs, to upstage Manav Thakkar and Georgina Pota 11-4, 11-9, 11-8 at the Thyagaraj Stadium.

The 23-year-old Szocs, ranked 36, extended her winning run in the singles by upsetting World No. 20 Lee Ho Ching 11-9, 11-3, 11-10.

Captain Liam Pitchford and Alvaro Robles maintained Falcons' stranglehold on the proceedings with contrasting victories.

Pitchord continued his winning streak this season with a hard-fought 8-11, 11-7, 11-8 victory against Tiago Apolonia while Spaniard Robles downed India's teen star Manav Thakkar 11-10, 11-9, 11-2.

Earlier,World No. 30 Matilda Ekholm gave Falcons a winning start, defeating Divya Deshpande 11-9, 11-6, 11-7.

Challengers' captain and World No. 12 Gauzy levelled the scores with an emphatic 11-5, 11-3, 11-5 victory over Shetty.

But Falcons came back strongly by winning the next four matches.

Challengers' other success came in the last match of the tie when Lee Ho Ching defeated Sutirtha Mukherjee.