Ultimate Table Tennis League: Goa Challengers’ enters finals; captain Harmeet Desai in good spirits

Goa Challengers' captain Harmeet Desai reflects on team's win and strategy for UTT final in Chennai.

Goa Challengers’ captain Harmeet Desai appeared in good spirits at the mixed zone while speaking to the media in Chennai on Thursday (September 5, 2024), as his team had just scripted a comfortable 8-4 win over table topper Bengaluru Smashers in the semifinals of the Ultimate Table Tennis League.

One of the reasons, according to Harmeet, why Smashers lost, was their inability to fight back since they have had it easier in all their previous ties. “We struggled a bit in qualification (league matches). We knew how to get out of it. On the other hand, for Smashers, it was first time they were down 4-0 or 5-2. It was a new situation, and they didn’t know how to get out of it. We were more experienced in the situation.”

Harmeet praised Italy’s Mihai Bobocica and Yangzi Liu of Australia, who gave Challengers a solid start by winning the first two singles. “The way Bobo and Yangzi started, beating Alvaro Robles and Manika Batra was fantastic. They were both in very good shape. It gave me lots of confidence going into the match against Jeet Chandra. Also, it was crucial we had got one point in the mixed doubles match. So, in the fourth match, Jeet was under pressure as the team was down 4-5 on points. My strategy was to play aggressive and that worked. I just wanted to go all out and try and put lot of pressure on him.”

Harmeet admitted there will be pressure but said his team will take the final as just another tie. This is the first time a team will be defending the title. “We will just take the next match as a normal match. We are not going to think a lot about winning the title. There will be pressure. We will be facing one of the two toughest teams (Dabang Delhi will take on Ahmedabad SG Pipers in the second semifinal on Friday) against whom we had lost in the league. We know how strong they are. We will carry the momentum that we have been carrying from the last three matches. We have a very good team. We can win (the final to be held on Saturday). Even last time, we finished fourth after the end of the league but beat the No. 1 team in the final.”

UTT, said Harmeet, has always produced some very good players and this time was no different. “Every year there has been more than one promising good player. This time, we have Ankur (Bhattacharjee), Yash (Yashaswini Ghorpade) and Nithyashree Mani. UTT is such a platform where players can come up and show their skills. The number will only increase and it is good for Indian TT,” he said.