Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula (left)
– Photo: Social Media
Expansion
Veteran table tennis player Sharath Kamal, G. Sathiyan and Manika Batra will be the center of attraction among the Indian stars in the upcoming season of Ultimate Table Tennis. Apart from this, world number 12 Aruna Quadri of Nigeria will also take part in foreign players. The fourth season of the league will be held from July 13 to 30 at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune.
The players’ draft will be held in Mumbai next month. Teams can select two foreigners from a pool of 40 players. These will include one male and one female, besides four Indians. Each team can retain one player from the previous season.
Shreeja, Payas and Ankur will also participate
Indian players include defending national champion Sreeja Akula, who recently won her second consecutive national title. Apart from this, national champions in the under-19 men’s category Payas Jain, Diya Chitale, S Fidel, R Snehit and Ankur Bhattacharjee will be included.
Besides Aruna, world number 32 Benedict Duda of Germany, world number 34 Omar Essar of Egypt, 2019 World Championships doubles silver-winner Alvaro Robles of Spain will also be part of the fourth season. World No. 24 Lily Zhang of America, Yangji Liu of Australia, Suthasini Swetabut of Thailand, Barbora of Slovakia will be the other women in the draft pool.
These six teams will take part
Bengaluru Smashers, Chennai Lions, Dabang Delhi TTC, Goa Challengers, Puneri Paltan and U Mumba.