Shazé Challengers staged a brilliant comeback to beat RP-SG Mavericks 15-12 in the final League Tie of CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis at the NSCI Stadium in Mumbai, on Thursday and make their way to the final four.

The first Match of the Tie saw the clash of the captains, as Mavericks’ Sharath Kamal took on Andrej Gacina of Shazé Challengers. The Indian veteran started off with a super serve and sealed the first Game with a powerful forehand top spin. Gacina came back hard and strong in the next Game, winning 11-1, but Kamal warmed the hearts of the Mumbai fans by clinching the decisive Game at 11-8 to give Mavericks 2-1 lead in the Tie. The Mavericks’ skipper registered his fourth consecutive win in the tournament.

Sabine Winter got the better off India’s Mouma Das in the second Match of the Tie. Das hit some clean winners and despite giving all sorts of problems to Winter in the first two Games, she couldn’t sustain the momentum, as the 24-year-old won it 11-8 and 11-9. In the third Game, Das was all over Winter and her powerful strokes forced the German to commit a lot of unforced errors. Eventually, Das bagged the Game 11-8, much to the delight of the crowd.

Tie 3 saw Sharath Kamal and Sofia Polcanova beat Li Ping and Mouma Das 2-1 to give Mavericks a steady lead of 6-3. The Mavericks duo bagged the first two Games with ease, 11-7 and 11-5. However, in the third Game, the Challengers pair rallied back brilliantly and pulled one back for their team at 11-9.

After losing all the Matches in the previous three Ties, Stefan Fegerl registered a 2-1 win by beating Andrej Gacina in the fourth Match. The Austrian committed a lot of unforced errors in the opening game, as Gacina won it comfortably 11-3. The next Game saw some scintillating rallies, and with the super backhand on the receive, Fegerl won it 11-7 to draw level in the Match. The third Game got a bit tight, with both players exchanging one point after the other, but Fegerl quelled the challenge of the Croatian with stunning shots to seal it 11-8.

In the fifth Match of the Tie, Sabine Winter came back and faced her fellow countrywoman Petrissa Solja. Winter took the tight opening Game at 11-9 before Petrissa Solja staged a brilliant comeback to clinch the next 11-4. Winter started the decisive Game on a positive note and kept the momentum throughout to win it 11-6.

With a 10-5 lead, the Mavericks were on a roll, but Soumyajit Ghosh gave his team the first win of the night by overpowering Stefan Fegerl in the sixth Match of the Tie. Fegerl won the first Game 11-9 and was on the verge of winning the next when he led 10-8. But Ghosh never gave up, and saved a couple of Match points before grabbing the Game in a decisive Point. The third Game got the crowd on the edge of their seats but Ghosh hit a powerful smash to clinch it 11-8.

Han Ying pulled the Challengers back into the contest with a thumping 3-0 win over India’s Archana Kamath in the eighth Match of the Tie. Kamath was up to the task initially at 4-4, but Ying won six points on the trot before bagging the Game at 11-5. The German paddler’s defence proved too strong for Kamath and it forced her to commit a lot of unforced errors throughout the Game. Ying cruised through the second Game 11-6 win before winning the next at 11-4 to help the team close in at 10-11 points.

Mavericks were officially out of the competition, when Tiago Apolonia lost to Li Ping 4-11 in the opening Game of the eighth Match. Despite losing the first Game, Apolonia came back strong and the next two Games saw some cracking rallies, but Ying kept his composure and won it 11-9 and 11-10 to help the Challengers stay ahead 13-11.

The dominant Han Ying came back and sealed the deal for the Challengers with a 2-1 win over Sofia Polcanova in the final Match of the Tie. Despite losing the first two Games 11-3 and 11-7, Polcanova fought bravely in the third, and won it 11-10. Eventually, the Challengers won the tie 15-12, despite trailing 7-11 at one point.

The Mavericks are knocked out of the competition, after managing just 60 points in the five Ties, while Shazé Challengers ended the league with 73 points and booked their place in the final four.

The first semi-final of CEAT UTT will see Falcons TTC square off against DHFL Maharashtra United at the NSCI Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.