Bottom-placed teams Warriors TTC and Empowerji Challengers will be eager to log maximum points and stay in contention for the title when they face each other in the last match of the Pune leg of the CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis Powered by Kellogg’s tournament here on Tuesday.

Both teams suffered  the biggest defeats of the first round at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi with Warriors going down to Dabang Smashers 7-14 on points, winning just one match in the tie, while Challengers were upstaged by RP-SG Mavericks 8-13.

The losses do not mean that Warrior or Challengers are weak teams it’s just that they were beaten by opponents who played better on that day.

Warriors, formerly Yodhas, have lot of quality in their squad. They are led by the indefatigable Achanta Sharath Kamal and lending strength to their campaign are World No. 15 Chih-Yuan Chuang, World No. 22 Aruna Quadri and women’s World No. 18 Sofia Polcanova .

Challengers too possess India’s teen star Manav Thakkar and are led by Frenchman Simon Gauzy (World No. 12), the highest ranked male player in the tournament. World No. 40 Tiago Apolonia of Portugal and Hong Kong girl Lee Ho Ching (World No. 20) are the other top players in their ranks.

Thakkar, who had upset World No. 33 Kou Lei of Ukraine in the first men’s singles duel against Mavericks, is riding high on confidence but admits it will not be an easy task to get past the Warriors. “We are looking at fresh strategies after our defeat to Mavericks and hope it works out well and results in a win,” he saidon Monday. “I am in good touch but Warriors are a strong team and I am hoping to win again,” added the U18 World No. 2.

The Warriors, who hold a 1-0 advantage over their rivals having defeated them last season, are hoping to extend that in their second meeting as well. Their top-ranked woman player, Sofia Polcanova is hopeful of a good show. “We are looking forward to tomorrow’s match. I hope we can turn it around and win. I know if I concentrate well, I can come good,” said the Austrian, who became the first player to feature in two singles in a tie this season. She was upset in the first singles 1-2 by Smashers’ star player Manika Batra but she bounced back to win 3-0 against Japanese Sakura Mori.

With both teams desperate to swell their points tally another pulsating battle is in the offing.

The tournament, put together by 11Sports and Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), heads to Delhi’s Thyagraj Stadium from June 20 to 25 before the final leg in Netaji Stadium, Kolkata from June 26 to July 1.

Tie date: June 19, 2018 (Tuesday)

Venue: Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi

Head to head: Matches played 1, Warriors 1, Challengers 0

Points in Season 2: Warriors 7, Challengers 8

Players to watch out

Men: Sharath Kamal (World No. 47), Chuang Chih-Yuan (World No. 15), Simon Gauzy, World No. 12, Manav Thakkar, U18 World No. 2

Women: Sofia Polcanova (World No. 18), Lee Ho Ching, (World No. 20)

Warriors TTC: Men: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Ravindra Kotiyan, Chuang Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei), Aruna Quadri (Nigeria) World No. 22. Women: Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, Sreeja Akula, Sofia Polcanova (Austria), Hana Matelova (Czech Republic) World No. 51. Coaches: Sandeep Gupta, Ferenc Karsai (Hungary)

Empowerji Challengers: Men: Simon Gauzy (France), Manav Thakkar, Tiago Apolonia (Portugal) World No. 40, Arjun Ghosh. Women: Lee Ho Ching (Hong Kong), Georgina Pota (Hungary) World No. 37, Divya Deshpande, Prapti Sen. Coaches: Muralidhara Rao and Peter Engel.