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Ahead of the player draft of Season 4 of Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT), franchises have retained top Indian paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal along with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Manika Batra and Manav Thakkar.
10-time national champion Sharath has been retained by defending champions Chennai Lions, while the Asian Games bronze medalist Sathiyan will continue to play for Dabang Delhi. The Delhi outfit won the UTT title in the second season before losing to the Chennai team in the third.
India’s star female paddler Manika Batra has been retained by Bengaluru Smashers, with the retention transfer originating from her former franchise. While Asian Games bronze medallist Manav Thakkar will continue to play for U Mumba TT.
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The upcoming season will feature six teams - Bengaluru Smashers, Chennai Lions, Dabang Delhi TTC, Goa Challengers, Puneri Paltan Table Tennis and U Mumba TT.
Sathiyan happy to be retained by Dabang Delhi for UTT Season 4
Sathiyan was elated to be retained by Dabang Delhi for the upcoming season and said he was eagerly looking forward to playing for them. The 30-year-old added that he shares many unforgettable moments with the club with the best of all being title winners in the second season.
“I am extremely happy to have been retained by Dabang Delhi TTC for the UTT Season 4 and this will be my fourth consecutive season for Dabang Delhi," said Sathiyan. "The most unforgettable moment was certainly winning the championship point for Dabang Delhi in Season 2 and taking the UTT crown. I am eagerly looking forward to play for the Delhi family again and winning the title this year."
The teams, after retaining players, will now focus on the Season 4 Player draft to be held in Mumbai next month. The teams will have to build a six-player squad from among the pool of 40 players who have registered for the draft.
Each team can pick two foreign players - one male and one female - along with four Indians, two male and two female players.
The Season 4 coach draft recently concluded where franchises picked two coaches each.
When and where to watch UTT Season 4
The fourth season of the Ultimate Table Tennis will be held at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune from July 13 to 30.
The league will be live-streamed on JioCinema and broadcast on the Sports18 network.
The franchise-based league is promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani under the auspices of the Table Tennis Federation of India.
