MUMBAI: Ultimate Table Tennis season 4 player draft to take place in Mumbai
Six franchisees will look to lock in the best combinations for Season 4 of Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) when the Season 4 Player Draft gets underway at the National Sports Club of India in Mumbai on Friday.
The draft will be attended by the UTT co-promoter Vita Dani and Table Tennis Federation of India Secretary General Kamlesh Mehta, alongside franchise owners and Indian table tennis players Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra, Manav Thakkar, and Diya Chitale.
The draft will feature a total of 40 players of which 36 will be available for selection after the retentions of Sharath Kamal (Chennai Lions), Sathiyan (Dabang Delhi TTC), Manika (Bengaluru Smashers), and Manav (U Mumba TT) utilised by four of the six franchisees.
Each team can draft two foreigners - one male and one female; and four Indians - two male and two female, to complete their six-member squad.
Only Goa Challengers and Puneri Paltan Table Tennis will be eligible to pick in Round 1 of the Player Draft.
The draft pool comprises a diverse array of talent, including top international and Indian paddlers.
Among the foreign players to watch out for are: Quadri Aruna (WR16) from Nigeria, Alvaro Robles (WR43) of Spain, who won the doubles silver medal at the 2019 World Championships, and USA's Lily Zhang (WR24).
Among Indians, the key players in the draft include Sreeja Akula, who has won back-to-back national titles, Harmeet Desai, a member of gold medal-winning team at the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games, and exciting young talents such as the U-19 boys national champion Payas Jain, Diya Chitale, S Fidel R Snehit, and Ankur Bhattacharjee.
Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani promote the franchise-based league under the auspices of the Table Tennis Federation of India, and will be broadcasted live on Sports 18 and streamed on Jio Cinema.
Bengaluru Smashers, Chennai Lions, Dabang Delhi TTC, Goa Challengers, Puneri Paltan Table Tennis and U Mumba TT will be part of the UTT Season 4, scheduled at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune from July 13 to June 30.