Pune: Veteran Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal produced a scintillating performance to overcome the country's top-ranked men's singles player Harmeet Desai as Chennai Lions beat Goa Challengers 11-4 in the ongoing IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4 at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mahalunge-Balewadi in Pune on Saturday.

It was an end-to-end battle between both the Indian paddlers from the start of the match as the crowd was treated to some top-class table tennis action. The first game went in the favour of Sharath Kamal by 11-9 who countered Harmeet's aggression with calm precision.

The 13-time Commonwealth Games medallist carried forward the momentum as he took the second game by 11-9 to secure the eighth winning point for his franchise. Sharath won the third game by 11-8.

In the final match of the tie, Yangzi Liu beat T Reeth Rishya 2-1 to complete a stunning victory for the defending champions.

The franchise-based league, promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani under the auspices of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), has been a game-changer for Indian table tennis since its inception in 2017.

Earlier, Benedikt Duda of Chennai Lions played a thriller against Alvaro Robles and won by 2-1 in the first match of the tie. The Wolrd No. 33 began the game on a positive note and played some powerful forehands to take the first game by 11-5 before the Goa Challengers paddler made a comeback with his precise shots and won it by 11-8 to turn the match into an exciting contest.

The third game was a close one which went in the favour of Duda by 11-7.

In the second match of the tie, World No. 39 Suthasini Sawettabut of Goa Challenger defeated Sutirtha Mukherjee 2-1.

The Indian paddler, who lost her last two matches in the league, was on top of her game at the start and took some early points to put Suthasini in trouble. Sutirtha was quick to react to the ferocious forehands of the Thai paddler to win the first game by 11-8.