In his debut season of Ultimate Table Tennis, Eduard Ionescu has struggled to find his footing.
The 21-year-old Romanian had lost all three of his previous singles matches in Season 7. But the World No. 47 finally found his rhythm on Friday, defeating Payas Jain 3-0 in the fourth and penultimate rubber to set up HVR Kolkata ThunderBlades’ 9-6 victory over Ahmedabad APL Pipers at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium.
In the other contest, two-time champion Dempo Goa Challengers scripted its fourth straight win, after a 12-3 triumph over Dabang Delhi.
Ionescu’s win left Ayhika Mukherjee needing just one game against Sofia Polcanova in the fifth and deciding match to seal the tie for Kolkata. Ayhika did the unthinkable to upset Polcanova 2-1 and complete a memorable victory for the Kolkata.
Earlier, Ayhika and Ankur Bhattacharjee defeated Polcanova and Payas Jain 2-1 in the mixed doubles to reduce the deficit to 4-5 before Ionescu scripted his maiden win.
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Published on Jul 17, 2026