New Delhi: The eight-team UTT’s 2024 season will begin on August 22 in Chennai India’s top table tennis league Ultimate Table Tennis has announced two new teams for the upcoming season of the league. The Ultimate Table Tennis League will now be an eight-team league with the addition of two new franchises – Ahmedabad SG Pipers and Jaipur Patriots.
The upcoming season of the Ultimate Table Tennis League will begin from August 22 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai. The league will run till September 7. The franchise-based league is promoted by Neeraj Bajaj and Vita Dani, who are co-owners of Indian Super League club Chennaiyin FC. The league is recognised and played under the aegis of the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI). The league was born in 2017 and since then it has been a six-team league, with Goa Challengers, Chennai Lions, Dabang Delhi TTC, U Mumba TT, Puneri Paltan and Bengaluru Smashers competing for the top honours. From the upcoming 2024 season, Ahmedabad SG Pipers and Jaipur Patriots will also join the fold.
The eight teams are now divided into two groups of four teams each. Each team will play five matches against the other teams in their group, with each franchise facing each other once, and two randomly selected teams from the other group, determined via a draw. Goa Challengers are the defending champions of the league after defeating former champions Chennai Lions in the final of the 2023 edition.
Each team will continue to have six players including two foreign players. The eight-team league will provide a platform for young Indian paddlers to hone their skills and play with the best players in the region. The league also aims to raise the standard of the sport in the country. UTT Chairperson Vita Dani said that the league has worked consistently in line with the main mission of the league. Dani said in a statement to the media, “The main objective behind the launch of UTT was to raise the stature of table tennis in India, provide a platform for our players to compete with the best players in the world and take Indian table tennis to unprecedented heights.” The recent historic victories of our Indian players against Chinese opponents and the qualification of the national men’s and women’s teams for the Olympics through the World Team Rankings underline this mission.” Also Read – Novak Djokovic and coach Goran Ivanisevic part ways UTT co-promoter Neeraj Bajaj said the league aims to capitalise on the prevailing Olympic fever, as the league is scheduled to begin after the Paris Olympics. “The introduction of additional teams will increase the level of competition, which will be strategically timed to coincide with the post-Paris Games period, to capitalise on the prevailing Olympic fervour across the country,” he said.
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2024-05-30 00:36:20