Preparations begin for the upcoming Ultimate Table Tennis league, teams choose their coaches
Mumbai Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) on Friday conducted a coach draft in Mumbai in which six franchise teams picked their coaches for the upcoming edition of the league to be held from July 13 to 30. Ute’s co-promoters Neeraj Bajaj and Vita Dani along with the team owners participated in the Ute Season 4 Coaches Draft.
The team owners made their first strategic move for the season by choosing a combination of an Indian and a foreign coach from the talent pool available. The draft began with each team determining the order or sequence of selections. In this each team picked up a numbered ball (1-6) from a pouch for Round-1. The order for Round-2 has been reversed.
The league’s newest team, the Bengaluru Smashers, made the first selection in Round 1 with Sachin Shetty as their Indian coach and then in the second round roped in Vesna Ojstersek of Slovenia as their foreign coach.
Puneet Balan, owner of Bengaluru Smashers, said, “I think Vesna and Sachin are a perfect combination for Delhi, which finished second in 2019. That was on our mind. Our team did their homework and these were our first picks. It is always good to be a part of a league, especially a non-cricketing league. We are happy to be a part of Utete.”
The second turn to choose the coaches was from the overbearing Delhi TTC. This team first featured veteran A.J. Muralidhar Rao as the Indian coach and then in the second round picked four-time Olympian Slobodan Grujic of Serbia as their foreign coach. Radha Kapoor Khanna, owner of Dabang Delhi TTC, felt that the process was very interesting and her team was looking forward to working with their choice.
Radha Kapoor said, “We came to the selection of coaches keeping in mind certain equations regarding international and Indian coaches. We had few options. We are hoping that the combination of Muralidhar and Slobodan will bring the winning spirit to our team.”
U Mumba TT roped in Francisco Santos and Anshul Garg of Portugal as coaches while Puneri Paltan Table Tennis roped in Joltan Batorfi and N. Made a combination with Ravichandran.
Suhail Chandhok, CEO, U Mumba TT said, “Francisco and Anshul were our top picks. We have been in touch with Francisco from Portugal. He is already happy to be a part of the U Mumba TT franchise and is really looking forward to working with Anshul. Getting a young combination on the circuit was really important.”
Commenting on the team choice, Puneri Paltan Table Tennis CEO Kailash Kandpal said, “I am happy with the combination we have chosen. Jolton and Ravichandran worked together in their last assignment in Kolkata. We had a few other combinations in mind, but these two were our priority.
Goa Challengers opted for a combination of five-time Olympian Elena Timina and India’s Parag Agarwal. Goa Challengers owner Vivek Bhargava felt that the season has started well for him with his selection in the coaches draft. He added: “The draft was good for us. We’ve got our two top coaches.”
The defending champions Chennai Lions took India’s Somnath Ghosh and Germany’s Jörg Bitzizio before ending the draft. Jörg was instrumental in helping the German women’s team win a bronze medal at the 2010 World Team Championships.
Chennai Lions owners Harini Yadav and Karishma Yadav said in a joint statement, “We are delighted to be a part of Utete. We intend to give our best. The combination of Somnath Ghosh and Jorg Bitzizio will allow us to select the best players available in the draft. will gain help in.”
Now that all the teams have selected their coaches, they will begin their preparations for the UTT Season 4 Player Draft which will be held early next month. Neeraj Bajaj and Vita Dani are the promoters of this franchise based league being organized under the aegis of Table Tennis Federation of India.The upcoming season of the league will be played at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Mahalunge, Pune.
