by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Sharath Kamal Achanta will be supported by Austria’s Stefan Fegerl and Austria’s Tiago Apolonia with colleague Birdie Borowith completing the male contingent; the female players are Sofia Polcanova, like Stefan Fegerl from Austria and Germany’s Sabine Winter who line up alongside the host country’s Archana Girish Kamath and Amrutha Pushpak.
On duty for the Falcons will be Sweden’s Pär Gerell and England’s Liam Pitchford; they join forces with India’s Sanil Shetty and Arjun Ghosh. The host female players are China’s Wu Yang and Hong Kong’s Lee Ho Ching, supported by the host nation duo of Sutirtha Mukherjee and Priyadarshini Das.
“At the heart of its concept, the Ultimate Table Tennis vies to benefit the development of Indian players by allowing Indian players to play alongside some of the world’s best. With the announcement of the schedule today, we are eager for the launch of the event and hope that the inaugural edition will garner the support of the Indian audience. We are confident that Ultimate Table Tennis will provide a table tennis experience that will inspire a new crop of players to take up the sport.” Mrs. Vita Dani, Owner and Co-promoter of Ultimate Table Tennis
Venue for the contest is the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium and the finale to be held in Mumbai.
Following fixtures in Chennai, scheduled to conclude on Thursday 20th June, attention moves to New Delhi and then to Mumbai where the semi-finals and final will be played. Play in New Delhi commences on Friday 21st July and concludes on Tuesday 25th July; one day later matters are underway in Mumbai with Sunday 30th July witnessing the conclusion of the tournament.
Overall six franchised teams compete, each comprising eight players: two men from the Table Tennis Association of India and two from foreign associations, the same principle apply for the women.
Teams are club based being Maharashtra United, Oilmax-Stag Yoddhas, Dabbang Smashers TTC, iProspect Challengers, Falcons TTC (Bayside Spinners) and RP-SG Mavericks.
Each fixture comprises nine matches, each match is best of three games. Each game is up to 11 points but should the score reach 10-all, it is sudden death; the next point determines the winner.
A team receives on point for each game; thus a potential 27 points is on offer, thus 14 points secured victory.
Ultimate Table Tennis: The Teams (as on Saturday 8th July)
Ultimate Table Tennis: The Fixtures (Commence on Saturday 15th July)
Ultimate Table Tennis: Competition Format (as on Saturday 8th July)
Ultimate Table Tennis: Starts on Thursday 13th July