Panaji, July 17 -- Asian Games medallist Ayhika Mukherjee became the first player to defeat Sofia Polcanova in Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) season 7 as HVR Kolkata ThunderBlades registered their second win of the campaign with a 9-6 victory over Ahmedabad APL Pipers on Friday. Ayhika's impressive triumph over the Austrian star capped another strong all-round display from Kolkata, who climbed further into playoff contention.

The tie swung decisively in Kolkata's favour through the middle matches after Ankur Bhattacharjee and Ayhika delivered a commanding mixed doubles victory. Eduard Ionescu, then, produced a clinical straight-games win over Payas Jain before Ayhika completed the job in style.

Staged under the aegis of the Table Tennis Fe...