CHENNAI: World No.13 Bernadette Szocs and Manush Shah led the charge as Ahmedabad SG Pipers waltzed into the semi-finals in style with a 12-3 thrashing of Jaipur Patriots in the Ultimate Table Tennis 2024 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium. Ahmedabad have thus finished the league stage at the second spot with 42 points.
Coming to Wednesday’s tie, both teams needed to win big to enter the knockouts. Ahmedabad were off to a good start as Lilian Bardet defeated Cho Seungmin 2-1 in the first men’s singles. Jaipur needed to win every game from thereon in order to qualify for the semi-finals and their hopes came crashing down during the first women’s singles when Bernadette drubbed Suthasini Sawettabut 3-0.
Bernadette gave the Ahmedabad fans more reasons to smile when she teamed up with Manush to beat the Jaipur’s pair of Nithyashree Mani and Cho 2-1 in the mixed doubles. Manush continued the domination for Ahmedabad, outclassing Snehit SFR 2-1, while Reeth Rishya rounded off a successful evening by outclassing Moumita Dutta 3-0. In the first semifinal, Bengaluru will meet Goa on Thursday while Ahmedabad will face Delhi in the second semifinal on Friday. Result: Ahmedabad SG Pipers bt Jaipur Patriots 12-3.