Rishabh Pant’s Mumbai Pickle Power continued their impressive run in the World Pickleball League, securing their fourth successive victory in the tournament. They triumphed 3-1 over movie star Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s Chennai Super Champs at the Brabourne Stadium, further cementing their status at the top of the table.
“Today was probably the toughest day we had as a team, but in the end, we came out 3-1 victors,” Mumbai’s Brandon Lane told RevSportz after the game. “Chennai came out hot, but we held our ground and came out on top.”
The match began with the men’s singles clash between Mumbai’s Bartosz Karbownik and Chennai’s Sonu Kumar. A hard-fought, neck-and-neck battle between the Polish and Indian players ended in a draw. Despite Bartosz trying to maintain a narrow lead at several points, Sonu showed grit and determination before the game ended 16-16.
The women’s doubles match was a one-sided affair. Mumbai’s Glauka Lane and Sabrina Dominguez dominated their opponents from the start. Chennai’s Sarah Jane Lim and Anna Patrimonio did try to put up a fight, but it was a lost battle for the duo. The game ended 15-9 in Mumbai’s favor.
The men’s doubles match, however, went the other way, with Chennai’s ace duo of Tanner Tomassi and Etienne Blaszkewycz getting the better of Mumbai’s Brandon Lane and Kim Eung Gwon.
“I had been undefeated till now, but I suffered my first loss today,” said Lane. “But it’s a team game, and we all went out as a whole, holding each other’s back, so I’m super proud of my team.”
The women’s singles match was the pick of the lot, with Mumbai’s Mihae Kwon eventually getting the better of Thaddea Lock 18-15 in a tense encounter.
However, the mixed doubles match turned out to be the decider, with the Mumbai duo of Glauka and Brandon Lane executing their plans to perfection against Lim and Blaszkewycz.
“I feel I let my team down in the last game,” Blaszkewycz told RevSportz after he and Lim lost 15-8 in the last game. “I did try to give my best with the stakes being so high. Everyone performed at their best—Sonu led us, and the rest followed up. So, this loss is a tough one to take.”
Had the Chennai mixed-doubles pair won the tie, the match would have gone into a tie-breaker to decide the winner. With this victory, Mumbai remain at the top of the table, undefeated, while Chennai, after three games, stays at the bottom. The top four teams will play the semi-finals on Saturday, February 1.