Kolkata Thunder Blades wins inaugural UTT Juniors title

KOLKATA: Kolkata Thunder Blades’ youngsters Ritvik Gupta and Swara Karmarkar were crowned champions of the first-ever Dream UTT Juniors after a dominant 5-2 win over U Mumba TT’s Prateek Tulsani and Ananya Muralidharan in the final, held at the EKA Arena on Sunday.

The tournament, aimed at India’s brightest under-15 table tennis talent, concluded after two weeks of competition involving top junior players from across the country. The finale saw Ritvik and Swara combine well in both singles and mixed doubles to steer Kolkata to the title.

Ritvik set the tone in the boys’ singles clash, bouncing back from a narrow opening-set loss to edge Prateek in the next two sets (10-11, 11-10, 11-8), giving his team an early lead.

The Kolkata pair continued their momentum in the mixed doubles, winning the first two sets 11-4 and 11-9 before U Mumba responded with an 11-9 win to keep the tie alive at 4-2.

It was then left to Swara to finish the job, and she did so in style. Her 11-4 win over Ananya in the first set of the girls’ doubles secured the title for Kolkata Thunder Blades.

Speaking after the final, Swara said, “The experience was incredible. I got to spend time with top players like Adriana Diaz and Quadri Aruna, they were so friendly and encouraging.”

“It was always my dream to be part of UTT. Playing here as a competitor, rather than just watching, feels amazing," said Ritvik.

The awards ceremony was attended by Vita Dani, Co-promoter of Ultimate Table Tennis, along with Neel Shah, CEO of Dream Sports Foundation.