Goa Challengers enter semifinal of UTT

Taiwan's Cheng I-Ching and India's Amalraj Anthony engineered an easy 11-4 victory for Goa Challengers over Puneri Paltan to enter the semifinals of the Ultimate Table Tennis tournament here on Wednesday.

With the win, Goa joined U Mumba, Dabang Delhi and Chennai Lions in the semifinals of the tournament.

Delhi and Chennai clash in the last tie on Thursday to decide the semifinals line-up.

I-Ching and Amalraj won their respective singles matches and also successfully paired up in the mixed doubles to garner eight mega points for Goa.

Spain's Alvaro Robles and India's Archana Kamath collected 1 and 2 points each to make it a grand victory.

World No. 9 I-Ching began Goa's charge, rattling Ayhika Mukherjee of Paltan with her array of big shots. Ayhika defended smartly in the first set but could not sustain the fight beyond the halfway stage. From 6-6, she capitulated to an 8-11 defeat.

I-Ching got a grip on Mukherjee's game by then, and raced to a 6-0 lead in the second set. She conceded