Sharath Kamal sparkles, Harmeet Desai help RP-SG Mavericks edge out Warriors TTC 11-10
Achanta Sharath Kamal's two wins weren't enough as Warriors TTC went down fighting 10-11 to RP-SG Mavericks in the last match of Delhi leg. Earlier, Harmeet Desai stunned World No 22 Aruna Quadri to help Mavericks equalize the score at 9-9 as Sabrine Winter helped them reach the top of the table.
The last day at the Thyagaraj Stadium in Delhi on Monday evening saw a thriller between Warriors TTC and RP-SG Mavericks. The match was important with semi-finals places to fill as Mavericks helped their cause by topping the table. Achanta Sharath Kamal’s superb show went in vain as Warriors lost a closely fought match against Mavericks 10 points to 11.
The tie began with Kamal overcoming World No. 20 Mattias Karlsson 2-1 as the Indian dug deep into his bag of experience to pull off his first singles win in UTT 2 as he was down 7-11, 1-5. Kamal then paired up with Hana Matelova of Czech Republic, for another 2-1 triumph. Like his singles match after being down by set, the pair beat Harmeet Desai and Doo Hoi Kem 8-11 11-9 11-8.
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 lost the first set 9-11 but comfortably won the second 11-6, however, she couldn’t close the match in the last set to lose 10-11.
In fourth game Mattias Karlsson downed Taipei’s Chih Yuan Chuang 2-1, 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.
In a nicely poised game India's Harmeet Desai then stunned world no 20 Aruna Quadri 2-1 (11-8, 4-11, 11-6) to make the score 9-9. The final game saw Sabine Winter of Germany representing Mavericks beat Warriors’ Pooja Sahasrabuddhe 2-1 (7-11, 11-8, 11-7) to help her team clinch the tie and top the UTT points table.