Goa Challengers eye hat-trick of UTT titles

Ahmedabad, May 30 (PTI) Defending champions Goa Challengers will look to extend their dominance and complete a hat-trick of titles when the sixth season of Ultimate Table Tennis, a franchise-based league, begins here on Saturday.

Goa Challengers is the most successful team in the eight-team league, winning the title twice in 2023 and 2024.

They defeated Chennai Lions in the 2023 final and then prevailed over Dabang Delhi TTC in last edition's title clash.

Goa Challengers boast of a strong side comprising India international Harmeet Desai, the only Gujarat player who have won back-to-back UTT titles in season 4 and 5.

Besides Desai, the Goan side also has Zeng Jian (Singapore), Tiago Apolonia (Portugal), Ronit Bhanja, Krittwika Sinha Roy and Sayali Wani.

The other teams in the league are Ahmedabad SG Pipers, Chennai Lions, Dabang Delhi TTC, Kolkata Thunderblades, Pune Jaguars, Jaipur Patriots and U Mumba TT.

The tournament will conclude with the grand final on June 15 at the EKA Arena here.

For the first time in UTT history, the teams have been allowed to choose coaches and a player auction was held, making the competition more strategic and balanced.

The tournament organisers have also introduced UTT juniors, the matches of which will be held in the morning session.

Other big names from India who will be part of the event are Ahyika Mukherjee (Ahmedabad SG Pipers), Diya Chitale, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (Dabang Delhi TTC), and Sreeja Akula (Jaipr Patriots) among others.

The international line-up will feature world No. 13 Bernadette Szocs (Romania), world No. 16 Adriana Diaz (Puerto Rico), world No. 20 Aruna Quadri (Nigeria), world No. 27 Kanak Jha (USA), world No. 35 Alvaro Robles (Spain), and Chinese paddler Fan Siqi.

On the opening day, Jaipur Patriots will take on Dabang Delhi TTC, while Ahmedabad SG Pipers will be up against reigning champions Goa Challengers.

According to the format of the tournament, the league stage will see all eight teams split into two groups of four for fixture-assigning purposes.

Each team will play the three others in their group once and two random opponents from the adjacent quartet. The top four sides from the league stage will qualify for the knock-out round.

Goa Challengers' Desai hoped his team would register a hat-trick of titles.

"We have a formidable team. There is a mix of youth and experience and there is no reason why we can't win the title for the third consecutive time," he said.

"But it won't be easy because all the teams are desperate for success. We have to be consistent enough to edge past others." PTI SSC AH AH