It makes a return after four years. The previous edition of the tournament was played in 2019, following which it was cancelled numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The competition was founded in 2017, as per Olympics.com.
Sharath Kamal the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and Asian Cup bronze medallist Manika Batra will lead India's 10-member table tennis contingent at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China.
In the inaugural seasons of UTT, then rising stars like Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Manav Thakkar, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Manika Batra come to the fore. The league features some of the top table tennis players from around the world, and India has its fair share of talented players representing in
Defending champions Chennai Lions take on Puneri Paltan Table Tennis at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune on July 13 in the opening match of season 4. The semi-finals are scheduled on July 28 and 29 while the grand finale will be held on July 30.
The Ultimate Table Tennis draft will feature a total of 40 players of which 36 will be available for selection after the retentions of Sharath Kamal (Chennai Lions), Sathiyan (Dabang Delhi TTC), Manika (Bengaluru Smashers) and Manav (U Mumba TT) was utilised by four of the six franchisees.
The upcoming season of will feature six teams: Bengaluru Smashers, Chennai Lions, Dabang Delhi TTC, Goa Challengers, Puneri Paltan Table Tennis and U Mumba TT.
There are 11 players in the Indian table tennis team. At the World Table Tennis Championships, India has only won two medals. At the first 1926 event, the men's team and SRG Suppiah in the men's singles both won bronze.
One of Africa's greatest table tennis players, Aruna, who is currently ranked 12th in the world and played the first two seasons of UTT makes his return to India for a third time.
Batra and her partner G Sathiyan lost 3-2 (9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11) in the mixed doubles quarter-finals to Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata, both world championships silver medallists.
The biggest motivation for star Indian paddler Manika Batra is to win a medal in Paris Olympics 2024 in the mixed doubles category pairing with Gnansekaran Sathiyan. The current Mixed Doubles World Ranked fifth and are India's best bet in Table-Tennis in Paris Olympics.