Ultimate Table Tennis 2018: Anthony Amalraj, Mattias Karlsson guide Maharashtra United into semis

Kolkata: India’s Anthony Amalraj and Sweden’s Mattias Karlsson essayed key roles as Maharashtra United marched into the semi-finals of the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday. In a tense encounter against Warriors TTC, United achieved their goal of advancing to the knockout stage in the sixth contest of the tie, when Karlsson tamed India’s star player Achanta Sharath Kamal 3-0 to give his side the required 11 points. [caption id=“attachment_4614781” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Maharashtra United’s Anthony Amalraj. Image credit: Official Facebook page of Maharashtra United[/caption] Madhurika Patkar lost the last match 0-3 but by then the fates of both the teams were sealed, with Warriors now having absolutely no chance of making it to the last four. Romania’s Elizabeta Samara, another star for United, set the ball rolling, comprehensively beating Pooja Sahasrabuddhe 3-0. Amalraj and America’s Lily Zhang then upstaged Sharath Kamal and Sofia Polcanova 2-1 (11-10, 11-9, 6-11) to give United the crucial 5-4 advantage after the first three matches. Samara also downed Polcanova 2-1 (9-11, 11-10, 11-10) in a tense battle that was decided by golden points. Chih Yuan Huang fought a valiant battle for Warriors, winning both his singles to level the scores twice. The World No 15 from Chinese Taipei downed Amalraj 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-6) as Warriors equalised the tie 3-3. He then upstaged United captain Joao Monteiro 2-1 (6-11, 11-4, 11-8) to help Warriors pull level at 6-6. But the Polcanova and Sharath Kamal’s defeats meant that Warriors were out of the reckoning.