Sharath, Harmeet sparkle but Mavericks take the spoils in UTT

Achanta Sharath Kamal's superb show went in vain as Harmeet Desai scored a sensational upset win to power RP-SG Mavericks to a thrilling 11-10 victory over Warriors TTC in the Ultimate Table Tennis at the Thyagaraj Stadium here today.

Sharath eked out two victories but that was not enough as Harmeet stunned world no. 22 Aruna Quadri to take RP-SG Mavericks to the top of the table as Delhi leg of the tournament came to an end here.

A charged up Sharath gave the Warriors the early edge, overcoming World No. 20 Mattias Karlsson 2-1. Down 7-11, 1-5, the Indian star dug deep into his bag of experience to pull off his first singles win in UTT 2.

Sharath continued to call the shots in the mixed doubles too, pairing up with Hana Matelova of Czech Republic, for another 2-1 triumph. The Warriors' pair lost the first set 8-11 but soon got the measure of Harmeet and Doo Hoi Kem. They wrapped up the clash 11-9, 11-8 for a handy 6-3 lead after three matches.

Earlier, world no. 20 Sofia Polcanova put the Warriors ahead, scoring a tight golden-point victory in the third set over Mavericks' Ayhika Mukherjee.

Ayhika relied on her close-to-the-table defensive play to force errors out of Polcanova. She lost the first set 9-11 but comfortably won the second 11-6. She, however, couldn't close the match in the decider to lose 10-11.

Karlsson brought the Mavericks back in the contest, taking the fourth match 2-1. The world no. 20 downed Taipei's Chih Yuan Chuang, unleashing a wide array of attacking shots.

Hong Kong's Doo Hoi Kem then beat Sofia Polcanova 2-1 to narrow the gap to 7-8 for Mavericks. Harmeet Desai then stunned Aruna Quadri 2-1 to make the score 9-9.

Warriors' Pooja Sahasrabuddhe put up a good fight but ended up losing 1-2 to hand the tie to Mavericks.

The final leg shifts to Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata from tomorrow with Dabang Smashers taking on Empowerji Challengers.

The semi-finals (June 29 and 30) and final (July 1) will also be held at the same venue.