The 18-year-old had just trumped his Chennai senior 11-9 and earned the winning point that took Dempo Goa Challengers into the final of Ultimate Table Tennis’ (UTT) season 7. Dabang Delhi TTC’s seventh straight semis entry, thus ended in defeat.

Abhinandh has had a sparkling start to his UTT journey. Despite playing only three matches for U Mumba in his debut season last year, he made his mark with impressive displays that helped the Mumbai-based outfit lift the trophy. He has now been promoted to a singles mainstay in Goa colours, and with four wins out of six and a finishing touch on Friday, is powering the home team’s splendid unbeaten campaign.

The teenager faced some anxious moments in the game, as Sathiyan ate up his 9-5 lead in no time to exert pressure. Abhinandh kept his calm and relied on pendulum services to seal the deal, before erupting into wild celebrations with his teammates.

Looking back at those tense moments, Abhinandh said: “I had some thoughts running in my head. I tried two shots which were unnecessary. But I did not go into a negative mindset even at 9-9, which helped me.”

He also expressed his gratitude to Sathiyan for the generous praise showered. “I respect him so much, not just in the game but personally as well. His words are very impactful to me, and being mentioned by him is an honour to me.”

How it panned out

Earlier, Alvaro Robles handed Goa the ideal start, shutting out Youssef Abdelaziz’s challenge in the opening rubber. The Spanish player kept pushing his fellow southpaw into the backhand corner and as Youssef scrambled to make his returns, his forehand side of the table kept getting exposed. After claiming the first two games with utmost ease, Robles saved three game points in the third and then snatched the golden point. Goa were three points to the good, with five more to come.

But the tie was about to get more interesting. Robles’ compatriot Maria Xiao went all out in attack to upset Goa skipper Bernadette Szocs in match 2. The win, only Maria’s second in 12 meetings with the world No. 24 Romanian, came after Szocs took the first game via a golden point. Maria retaliated with a delightful array of forehand and backhand top-spin drives to bamboozle Szocs and pull two points back for Delhi with a 10-11, 11-6, 11-4 scoreline.

It was all Goa from hereon. Robles combined with Indian TT’s rising 16-year-old sensation Syndrela to blank Sathiyan and Maria 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-3) in the mixed doubles rubber, and the hosts were now just a game away from the final.

Abhinandh then stepped up, and made sure the raucous Panaji crowd has plenty to cheer for, come the title clash on Sunday.