Mumbai, May 2 (IANS) Century Warriors delivered a commanding performance to defeat Jolly Friends Sporting Club 18-9, while defending champions Phantom Stars registered their second consecutive victory, overcoming NPV Smashers on Day 2 of the Butterfly Table Tennis Super League (TTSL) Maharashtra 2026.

In another tie on Saturday, Mumbai Mozartt returned to winning ways with a 17-10 win over NPV Smashers.

TTSL is an initiative by Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) to strengthen grassroots talent development and elevate state-level competition nationwide. Butterfly TTSL Maharashtra will see eight teams battle for the title, with each tie featuring nine matches—six singles, two mixed doubles, and one men’s doubles match. Each match has three games; each game a player wins adds a point to their team’s tally.

The tournament features eight teams: Ping Panthers, owned by Samir Raut and Nishad Naik; Bayside Spinners TTC, owned by Rizwan Amlani, Anil Bajaj, and Vishesh Sahgal; Century Warriors, owned by Sanjay Mehta, Prakash Punjabi, Raman Iyer, and Sandip Katiyar; Jolly Friends Sports Club, owned by Abhishek Javeri; Mumbai Mozartt, owned by Ashish Shanker and Navin Ajwani; NPV Smashers, owned by Milan Chitalia; PBG Pune Jaguars, owned by Punit Balan; and Phantom Stars, owned by Antara Jaggi.

Century Warriors, last season’s semifinalists, registered their authority early against Jolly Friends Sporting Club. Santosh Wakradkar set the tone with a dominant 3-0 win in the veterans’ match over Gurucharan. Although Raegan Albuquerque brought Jolly Friends level with a strong showing in the men’s singles, Century quickly took control of the tie.

With Naisha Rewaskar leading the charge in the junior girls’ singles, while the doubles combinations across the U-13 and veterans categories secured convincing 3-0 wins, Century Warriors secured a dominant 18-9 result.

Notably, despite Jolly Friends Sporting Club finishing their league stage campaign with one win from five ties, Raegan Albuquerque—who is set to make his Butterfly UTT debut later this year- remained unbeaten in all five of his men’s singles matches.

Phantom Stars, meanwhile, relied on their experienced core to secure a win over NPV Smashers. Sanil Shetty played a pivotal role, registering a 3-0 win in the men’s singles against Sagar Kasture before partnering with Shruti Amrute to claim another 3-0 victory in the mixed doubles. Veteran Onkar Jog and Shruti Amrute further contributed with solid wins in their respective matches, sealing the tie in favour of the defending champions.

Mumbai Mozartt, on the other hand, bounced back strongly after their loss to Bayside Spinners yesterday. Their U-17 mixed doubles pair of Ishan Khandekar and Divyanshi Bhowmick continued their unbeaten run, securing a 3-0 win over Shouren Soman and Ruchita Darvatkar. Aakarshan Yadav added to the momentum with a 3-0 victory in the cadet boys’ singles, helping Mumbai Mozartt build a strong lead and eventually close out the tie 17-10.

In other ties, Ping Panthers defeated PBG Pune Jaguars 15-12, while Bayside Spinners registered a 15-12 win over Jolly Friends Sports Club.

–IANS

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