New Delhi [India], World No. 10 Bernadette Szocs of Romania, promising Indian paddler Sreeja Akula, Nigerian ace Quadri Aruna and Germany's Nina Mittelham are among the top players who will headline the strong lineup for the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT). ) Player Draft 2024 in Mumbai on July 10.
Bernadette, 29, will make her third appearance. Quadri, ranked 16th in the world, will return for his fourth appearance, while world No. 17 Mittelham will make his UTT debut this year as a total of 47 players, including eight foreign men and women, will take part. of the Player Draft. and 43 players will be recruited to teams, according to a UTT statement.
World No. 24 Sreeja, who recently created history by becoming the country's first paddler to win a WTT Contender individual title, will be the key attraction among Indians, she said.
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. It will be a eight-team league. The league for the first time provides a platform for young Indian paddlers to showcase their talent alongside the world's elite players. UTT 2024 is scheduled to be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai from August 22 to September 7.
Indian star paddlers Achanta Sharath Kamal (Chennai Lions), G Sathiyan (Dabang Delhi TTC), Harmeet Desai (Goa Challengers), Manav Thakkar (U Mumba TT) and Manika Batra (PBG Bengaluru Smashers) have already been signed by their respective franchises for the next season.
As per the rules of the Player Draft, only Puneri Paltan Table Tennis, which did not retain any players, and two new teams, Jaipur Patriots and Ahmedabad SG Pipers, will be part of the first round of the draft. The eight teams will be in action from the second round, as each franchise will have to form a six-member team, consisting of one foreign player and one foreign player and two Indian players and one female player.
Apart from Sreeja, the list of local talents in the Players Draft includes Asian Games doubles bronze medalists Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee along with emerging talents like Yashaswini Ghorpade, Diya Chitale, Poymantee Baisya and Taneesha Kotecha among the women , and Snehit SFR, Jeet Chandra. , Manush Shah and Yashansh Malik among the men.
"Indian table tennis has witnessed a tremendous rise in the last few years and having five players in the Top 100 is a reflection of that growth. The new set of Indian faces in the Player Draft simply shows how much tennis has progressed. of table in India and we are very happy that the rise of UTT as a world-class league has contributed significantly to the growth of these young players. I hope these players make a mark in the upcoming season," Niraj Bajaj and Vita, promoters of. the UTT. Dani said in a joint statement.
Other notable foreign stars who will be part of the draft include 2024 World Table Tennis Team Championship silver medalists Jules Rolland and France's Lilian Bardet, the four-time Olympian and 2015 European Championship doubles gold medalist , Joao Monteiro of Portugal, and 2019 World Championship doubles silver medalist Alvaro Robles of Spain and World No. 70 Cho Seungmin of South Korea.
Among the players, Thailand's Suthasini Sawettabut (WR56), who played an important role in helping the Goa Challengers to the title last year, Sakura Mori (WR27), Lily Zhang (WR30) and Orawan Paranang (WR 36) will form part of the draft, according to the statement.
The format has undergone a slight alteration with the inclusion of eight teams, which will now be divided into two groups of four teams each. Each franchisee will continue to compete in five playoffs during the league phase, facing once against all other teams within their respective group, along with two randomly selected teams from the opposing group, determined by lottery.
Bernadette, 29, will make her third appearance. Quadri, ranked 16th in the world, will return for his fourth appearance, while world No. 17 Mittelham will make his UTT debut this year as a total of 47 players, including eight foreign men and women, will take part. of the Player Draft. and 43 players will be recruited to teams, according to a UTT statement.
World No. 24 Sreeja, who recently created history by becoming the country's first paddler to win a WTT Contender individual title, will be the key attraction among Indians, she said.
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. It will be a eight-team league. The league for the first time provides a platform for young Indian paddlers to showcase their talent alongside the world's elite players. UTT 2024 is scheduled to be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai from August 22 to September 7.
Indian star paddlers Achanta Sharath Kamal (Chennai Lions), G Sathiyan (Dabang Delhi TTC), Harmeet Desai (Goa Challengers), Manav Thakkar (U Mumba TT) and Manika Batra (PBG Bengaluru Smashers) have already been signed by their respective franchises for the next season.
As per the rules of the Player Draft, only Puneri Paltan Table Tennis, which did not retain any players, and two new teams, Jaipur Patriots and Ahmedabad SG Pipers, will be part of the first round of the draft. The eight teams will be in action from the second round, as each franchise will have to form a six-member team, consisting of one foreign player and one foreign player and two Indian players and one female player.
Apart from Sreeja, the list of local talents in the Players Draft includes Asian Games doubles bronze medalists Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee along with emerging talents like Yashaswini Ghorpade, Diya Chitale, Poymantee Baisya and Taneesha Kotecha among the women , and Snehit SFR, Jeet Chandra. , Manush Shah and Yashansh Malik among the men.
"Indian table tennis has witnessed a tremendous rise in the last few years and having five players in the Top 100 is a reflection of that growth. The new set of Indian faces in the Player Draft simply shows how much tennis has progressed. of table in India and we are very happy that the rise of UTT as a world-class league has contributed significantly to the growth of these young players. I hope these players make a mark in the upcoming season," Niraj Bajaj and Vita, promoters of. the UTT. Dani said in a joint statement.
Other notable foreign stars who will be part of the draft include 2024 World Table Tennis Team Championship silver medalists Jules Rolland and France's Lilian Bardet, the four-time Olympian and 2015 European Championship doubles gold medalist , Joao Monteiro of Portugal, and 2019 World Championship doubles silver medalist Alvaro Robles of Spain and World No. 70 Cho Seungmin of South Korea.
Among the players, Thailand's Suthasini Sawettabut (WR56), who played an important role in helping the Goa Challengers to the title last year, Sakura Mori (WR27), Lily Zhang (WR30) and Orawan Paranang (WR 36) will form part of the draft, according to the statement.
The format has undergone a slight alteration with the inclusion of eight teams, which will now be divided into two groups of four teams each. Each franchisee will continue to compete in five playoffs during the league phase, facing once against all other teams within their respective group, along with two randomly selected teams from the opposing group, determined by lottery.
