Top Indian paddlers Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Achanta Sharath Kamal, and Manika Batra headline the player's line-up for the upcoming season of Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT).
The fourth season of Ultimate Table Tennis will be played from July 13 to July 30 at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune.
Along with the star-studded Indian players, Quadri Aruna - one of Africa's table tennis giants and ranked 12 in the world - will also be a player to watch out for.
Aruna is no stranger to the Ultimate Table Tennis bandwagon having played the first two seasons of UTT and making his return to India for a third time.
Besides Aruna, World No. 32 Benedikt Duda of Germany, World No. 34 Omar Assar of Egypt, and Alvaro Robles of Spain, who won a doubles silver at the 2019 World Championships will also be part of the fourth season of the table tennis league.
USA’s Lily Zhang (ranked 24 in the world), Australia’s Yangzi Liu (ranked 32), Thailand’s Suthasini Sawettabut (ranked 33) and Barbora Balazova of Slovakia (ranked 44) will be the international women’s players in the draft pool.
Gnanasekaran Sathiyan to be top-ranked Indian player in Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4
Sathiyan, who is India's top-ranked player at 51 in the world, will be in action along with ace Indian paddler Sharath Kamal, who holds the record of 10 national titles.
Along with the duo, World No. 39 Manika Batra will be a star cast in the Indian line-up that comprises some promising young talents such as reigning national champion Sreeja Akula, U-19 boys national title holder Payas Jain, Diya Chitale, S Fidel R Snehit, and Ankur Bhattacharjee.
The upcoming season will feature six teams - Bengaluru Smashers, Chennai Lions, Dabang Delhi TTC, Goa Challengers, Puneri Paltan Table Tennis, and U Mumba TT.
After picking the coaches at the Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4 Coach draft, each franchise will now look to build a strong six-member squad at the Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4 player draft.
From a pool of 40 available players, each team can choose two foreigners – one male and one female and four Indians – two male and two female. Every team has the right to retain one player from the previous season.
List of players for Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4
The following players have registered themselves for the upcoming season of the UTT league.
Foreign players
Men: Quadri Aruna, Kirill Gerassimenko, Benedikt Duda, Jon Persson, Alvaro Robles and Omar Assar.
Women: Lily Zhang, Suthasini Sawettabut, Natalia Bajor, Barbora Balazova, Hana Matelova and Yangzi Liu.
Indian players
Men: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manush Shah, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, Sanil Shetty, Snehit SFR, Anirban Ghosh, Sudhanshu Grover, Jeet Chandra, Ronit Bhanja, Anthony Amalraj, Payas Jain, and Ankur Bhattacharjee.
Women: Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Krittwika Sinha Roy, Diya Chitale, Reeth Rishya, Ayhika Mukherjee, Moumita Dutta, Anusha Kutumbale, Archana Kamath, Poymantee Baisya, Mouma Das, Takeme Sarkar, and Prapti Sen.