Sharath, Sathiyan top Indians at UTT 2

Twenty four leading players from around the world have signed up to compete in the 18-day long event.

The pool of Indian players, comprising 28 players will be led by Sharath Kamal.

World number eight and France’s top player Simon Gauzy and Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-yuan will be the top draws for the second CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis tournament, starting on June 14. Twenty four leading players from around the world have signed up to compete in the 18-day long event, the organisers said. 

The pool of Indian players, comprising 28 players will be led by World No. 49 Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, winner of the ITTF Challenger Spanish Open and Sharath Kamal, the eight-time national men’s champion.

The event comprises of six franchisees with eight players (four men, four women) apart from a foreign and an Indian coach, in each team. Gauzy finished second at the ITTF World Tour — Australia Open and won a bronze medal at the ITTF Europe’s Top 16 event. Chinese Taipei paddler Chih-yuan, the Grand Tour champion in 2002, is credited with the rise of table tennis in Taiwan. Bernadette Szocs of Romania, teen sensation Adriana Diaz from Puerto Rico are the other star attractions.

Other notable foreign names include World No. 11 Doo Hoi Kem from Hong Kong, 2017 ITTF India Open winner Sakura Mori of Japan. In addition to the star power of Sathiyan and Sharath, Indian fans will hope better show from Sanil Shetty, Soumyajit Ghosh, Anthony Amalraj and Harmeet Desai. Moreover, World No. 2 junior paddler (U-18), Manav Thakkar will also be back for his second season.

While Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar and National Champion Sutirtha Mukherjee will lead the list of 14 Indian women at the event.

Foreigners:

Men: 1. Simon Gauzy (France, World No. 8), 2. Kristian Karlsson (Sweden, World No. 17), 3. Chih Yuan Chuang (Chinese Taipei, World No. 18), 4. Aruna Quadri (Nigeria, World No. 22), 5. Mattias Karlsson (Sweden, World No. 31), 6. Kou Lei (Ukraine, World No.35), 7. Masaki Yoshida (Japan, World No.36), 8. Tiago Apolonia (Portugal, World No.37), 9. Cedric Nuytinck (Belgium, World No.38), 10. Alvaro Robles (Spain, World No. 50), 11. Liam Pitchford (England, World No. 53) 12. Joao Monteiro (Portugal, World No. 55)

Women: 1. Doo Hoi Kem (Hong Kong, World No. 11), 2. Lee Ho Ching (Hong Kong, World No. 13), 3. Sakura Mori (Japan, World No. 19), 4. Sofia Polcanova (Austria, World No. 21), 5. Elizabeta Samara (Romania, World No. 22), 6. Bernadette Szocs (Romania, World No. 27) 7. Georgina Pota (Hungary, World No. 31), 8. Matilda Ekholm (Sweden, World No. 37), 9. Adriana Diaz (Puerto Rico, World No. 40), 10. Lily Zhang (USA, World No. 56),   11. Sabine Winter (Germany, World No. 59), 12. Hana Matelova (Czech Republic, World No. 67)

Indians:

Men (Senior):   Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Soumyajit Ghosh,  Harmeet Desai,  Sharath Kamal Achanta, Sanil Shetty,  Amalraj Anthony, Arjun Ghosh. (Youth): Manav Thakkar, Ronit Bhanja, Jeet Chandra, Siddhesh Pande, Utkarsh Gupta, Sanish Ambekar, Ravindra Kotiyan

Women (Senior):   Manika Batra, Mouma Das, Madhurika Patkar, Pooja Sahasrabudhe, Suthirtha Mukherjee, Ankita Das, Divya Deshpande. (Youth): Archana Kamath, Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee, Moumita Dutta, Selena Selvakumar, Prapti Sen,  Priyadarshini Das.