How UTT has contributed to the rise of Indian Table Tennis

When Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) was launched in 2017, India’s current top paddlers like Manika Batra and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan were not quite in the spotlight.

But since the inaugural edition of the tournament, the two players have seen a rapid rise in their respective careers.

In 2018, Manika Batra bagged four medals in the Commonwealth Games, finishing on the podium in each discipline she participated in, including a gold in the women’s singles. Sathiyan won the bronze in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The two also made it to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Sathiyan and Batra also scripted history when they became the first Indian mixed doubles to enter the top five in the ITTF Table Tennis World rankings in November 2022.

Cut to 2023, the two players have been retained by Dabang Delhi TTC and Bengaluru Smashers respectively in the upcoming edition of UTT. While their striking rise cannot be credited to the tournament, as Sathyan himself accepted during an interview with Indian Express, it gave him the "initial confidence".

Youngsters Manav Thakkar and Archana Kamath are the other beneficiaries of the UTT. They both played in the tournament during their teenage days when they were seeing a transformation in their individual games.

Manav Thakkar attained World No.1 ranking in the men's singles U-18 (2018) and U-21 (2020) categories in his rise to the senior team. He recently played in Germany's Table Tennis Bundesliga after signing with TTC OE Bad Homburg as their supplementary player. The Surat-born player is also part of India's 10-member squad for the upcoming Asian Games 2023.

Archana Kamath won the Senior National Championship title in 2018 following stunning victories over heavyweights Manika Batra in the semi-finals and Krittwika Sinha Roy in the final.

The paddler from Bengaluru missed the Commonwealth Games spot last year in the aftermath of a selection conundrum by the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI). But, she has been performing well on the international stage to prove her mettle.

Archana and Manav have also been paired together in the mixed doubles in the past few months. They made it to the semi-finals of the WTT Contender in Lagos last month.

The representation of Indian players at major international events like WTT Star Contenders and WTT Contenders have jumped to 12 from the previous count of four, based on the rankings.

Emerging players like the aforementioned duo, Sreeja Akula, Diya Chitale and Manush Shah will also get to share a team with veteran players like Achanta Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan and Batra. It will allow for a healthy competition and give them the chance to pick the brains of India's best paddlers.

10 out of the 24 Indian players set to participate in the upcoming edition of the UTT will also play at the Asian Games 2023, scheduled for late September in Hangzhou, China. UTT will serve as the start of the preparations for these paddlers.

UTT returns after three-year hiatus

The UTT was held for three straight seasons from 2017 to 2019 before the Covid-19 outbreak played a spoilsport. Unlike many other professional sporting leagues, it didn’t resume instantly.

The pandemic, coupled with the mismanagement of the TTFI, led to increasing uncertainty over the tournament’s future. But the tournament now returns after a hiatus of three years with a change in TTFI management.

Despite being away for three years, the league hasn’t failed to attract lucrative sponsorship deals. All thanks to the substantial viewership of the first three seasons.

"We had an average viewership of 20 million on TV for the initial three seasons and social media reach was close to 39 million. There is growing interest in the country for table tennis. Also, digital will give a further boost to UTT," Vita Dani, one of the two co-promoters of the UTT, told Moneycontrol.

A change in the digital broadcaster to JioTV, which provided the entire coverage of the inaugural Women’s Premier League along with the digital streaming of IPL 2023, is likely to boost the numbers as well.

The fourth edition of the UTT will be a six-team event with Bengaluru Smashers being the new entrant. Defending champions Chennai Lions take on Puneri Paltan in the tournament opener on July 13 at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune.

Dabang Delhi TTC, Goa Challengers, and U Mumba TT are the other participating teams. A total of 15 league games will be followed by the semi-finals (July 28 & 29) and the final (July 30).