Chennai: Heavyweights and former winners will collide when Dabang Delhi TTC take on U Mumba TT in their opening tie of the Ultimate Table Tennis 2024 Season at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Saturday. With it being a day of doubleheaders, defending champions Goa Challengers will take on debutants Ahmedabad SG Pipers in their respective second tie of the fifth season.
Led respectively by Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manav Thakkar, Dabang Delhi TTC and U Mumba TT will feature a clash between two of India’s finest paddlers, with both currently placed inside the Top 100 in World Rankings (Men’s Singles). The tie will also allow the fans to watch UTT 2024’s highest-ranked male paddler, Quadri Aruna of Nigeria (ranked 20th), in action for U Mumba TT.
Dabang Delhi TTC are approaching the fifth season of India’s premier table tennis league with a fresh perspective; besides Sathiyan, the former winners feature an entirely new cast comprising debutants and youngsters. U Mumba TT, on the other hand, have gone for continuity, bringing back Manav, Aruna, and Indian coach Anshul Garg.
Goa Challengers will aim to transform their win on the opening day of UTT 2024 into a streak when they face debutants Ahmedabad SG Pipers in Saturday’s second tie. The reigning champions beat the other new team this season, Jaipur Patriots, 9-6, to start their title defence positively. Their next opponents, Ahmedabad SG Pipers, would also have played their first match by the time the pair meet.
The tie between the two teams will pit Harmeet Desai against Manush Shah and Yangzi Liu against Bernadette Szocs. Szocs, the highest-ranked female paddler in the event, will particularly relish her potential clash against the Australian Liu, who hasn’t lost a match since the start of the previous season.
The franchise-based league promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani under the auspices of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) is being played in Chennai and will be aired on Sports18 Khel on TV and streamed live on JioCinema in the country and Facebook Live outside India.
Squads:
Dabang Delhi TTC vs U Mumba TT
Dabang Delhi TTC: Sathiyan G, Orawan Paranang (Thailand), Diya Chitale, Andreas Levenko (Austria), Yashansh Malik, Lakshita Narang
U Mumba TT: Manav Thakkar, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Aruna Quadri (Nigeria), Akash Pal, Kavyasree Baskar, Maria Xiao (Spain)
Goa Challengers vs Ahmedabad SG Pipers
Goa Challengers: Harmeet Desai, Yangzi Liu (Australia), Yashaswini Ghorpade, Sudhanshu Grover, Sayali Wani, Mihai Bobocica (Italy)
Ahmedabad SG Pipers: Manush Shah, Bernadette Szocs (Romania), Lilian Bardet (France), Reeth Tennison, Pritha Vartikar, Jash Modi.
–IANS