Gold Coast Commonwealth Games double gold medallist Manika Batra's heroics went in vain as RP-SG Mavericks outplayed table toppers Dabang Smasher in CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) at the Tyagaraj Stadium here on Wednesday. The massive 13-8 victory helped Mavericks end the night on 37 points, just two adrift of leaders Smashers.

Indian table tennis' poster girl, Manika came back from a game down to edge past World No.60 Sabine Winter of Germany 2-1 (4-11, 11-3, 11-7) in a thrilling encounter to help Smashers race to an early lead. Playing in front of her home crowd, Manika conceded the opening game in a rather meek fashion. But she made a strong comeback and fired in a total of 10 winners in the next two games to seal the match and send the fans into a thunderous applause.