Sixteen days of invigorating end-to-end Ultimate Table Tennis action culminates in the big final on Saturday.
With Dabang Delhi TTC beating league-debutant Ahmedabad SG Pipers in the second semifinal, it was assured that for the first time, fans were going to witness a team lift its second title.
Dabang bagged its only title in 2018, while the Athlead Goa Challengers is the defending champion.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Dabang’s skipper, is an out-an-out Chennai lad. With the entire tournament happening on his home turf where his family has been a regular in the VIP stands, the stakes are higher than ever.
Orawan Paranang (left), who inflicted her first clean sweep against Bernadette Szocs, the best-ranked player of the league on Friday, turned 27 on the day of the final, and will look to help Sathiyan and Delhi Dabang to win the title. | Photo Credit: PTI
But there’s a strange sense of calm about him as he sits for a chat with Sportstar, hours before the final. And he still wears the disarming smile, one of his little idiosyncrasies when interacting with the press.
“We are just thinking about winning the title. The record (first team to win the UTT title twice) comes with that. We’ve been very consistent throughout, reaching our third final now. Certainly, the entire team has put up a very good show. We’ll be really happy to break some records, especially in Chennai with the Dabang team,” Sathiyan says.
There is no question about who the 31-year-old paddler wants to dedicate the trophy, in case he ends up lifting it.
“Winning it in front of my family would be very, very special and also in front of the home crowd. So, if we win, I would dedicate the trophy to the Dabang family and also to all my Chennai supporters,” he adds.
Sathiyan is the only player in the league to have spent all five seasons with the same franchise.
And the trust Dabang has placed in him – in a league that allows only one player to be retained by a team every season – speaks volumes about his overall contribution to the side.
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“It’s more like a family now … It makes things much easier. They trust my decisions with the coaches. I think the bonding has been fantastic and that’s why you could see, we were always playing well as a team. The coaches have also been very supportive. It’s fantastic to be a part of Dabang every year. It has become my identity,” he says.
Diya Chitale has been taking things up a notch with her aggressive gameplay in the fag end of the ties. In her last five matches, she has dropped only one game.
The most memorable outing had to be the clash against PBG Bengaluru Smashers’ Manika Batra when Chitale subjected the sensational Batra to a 3-0 sweep. The emotions ran so high that Sathiyan leapt out of the dugout and gave the 21-year-old a bear hug.
Diya Chitale and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran celebrate after beating the PBG Bengaluru Smashers in UTT Table Tennis League 2024 in Chennai. | Photo Credit: Vedhan M/The Hindu
When asked whether there was a probability of Chitale getting pushed up the order for the title-decider, Sathiyan says, “I do not want to share our strategies (laughs), but certainly it’s incredible the way she’s been playing, the way she showed up fighting spirit after that first loss.
“I think to come back this strong and show what she is capable of. I’ve always believed in her. Sachin (Shetty) also being there helps her quite a lot. Her form and energy will definitely be helpful for us.”
Orawan Paranang, who inflicted her first clean sweep against Bernadette Szocs, the best-ranked player of the league on Friday, turned 27 on the day of the final.
Paranang, who had had a mixed bag of a season, made it count when it mattered, helping her team enter the 2024 title clash.
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Sathiyan, although very much aware of the Thai paddler’s birthday, has only had a very intimate party thrown for her at the team hotel, thus far. The grand birthday gift might take a few more hours to arrive.
For now, it safely rests in a trophy cabinet a few kilometres away, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium.
Sathiyan says, “In this format, it’s all about just getting yourself going on that day. You know it’s about those margins and she’s been fairly playing really well even throughout, even though she had a few losses. I told her to just go out there for the team is always there to support. You don’t have to take on the burden of losing or winning. So, I think that’s what she did.
“We did celebrate her birthday but we will get to celebrate it better in the evening hopefully. The entire team would want to win it for her today.”
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