ITV

Tag: UTT

  • Ceat UTT gets Kellogg’s as powered by sponsor

    Ceat UTT gets Kellogg’s as powered by sponsor

    MUMBAI: Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) season 2 is just around the corner as the dates are clashing with the FIFA World Cup 2018, on 14 June 2018. The 18 day-long tournament will be held in Pune, Delhi and Kolkata. This season, breakfast and cereal brand Kellogg’s has come on board as a sponsor in the ‘powered by’ category. With this new association, the league will be called CEAT UTT Powered by Kellogg’s.

    The six-franchise tournament has lined up India’s top stars, including Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal, to play alongside and against some of the finest players in the world. Opening matches will be played in Pune and New Delhi, with the grand finale in Kolkata.

    Kellogg’s India chief marketing officer Sumit Mathur said, “It is an honour to be associated with UTT, and we wish that all the athletes reach their full potential and achieve their dreams in the upcoming season.”

    “We are delighted to welcome Kellogg’s onboard. Their involvement is a testament to the widening reach and growing popularity of UTT. It will give a huge fillip to the league as well as to the sport of table tennis in the country. We look forward to a fruitful association with Kellogg’s,” said UTT co-owner Vita Dani.

    Six franchises will battle it out for the coveted trophy, with Falcons TTC coming in as the defending champions. With the continued support of various stakeholders, the Table Tennis Federation of India & the official league broadcaster, the Star Network, CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis Powered By Kellogg’s Season 2 promises to take the sport to greater heights and newer audiences.

  • UTT season 2: Sharath Kamal sold for Rs 3 crore to Yodhas

    UTT season 2: Sharath Kamal sold for Rs 3 crore to Yodhas

    MUMBAI: Three-time Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold medallist Sharath Kamal Achanta is set for a new challenge in the second season of the Rs 3 crore CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis League (UTT), with the Yodhas swooping on him in the player draft.

    The Yodhas clinched the eight-time national champion, a strong contender for gold in the upcoming CWG in Gold Coast, in round three, after first picking their foreign male and female players. They opted for Chuang Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei; World No 18) and Sofia Polcanova (Austria; World No 21) to return with a solid team.

    Interestingly, the foreign women players were very much in demand, with the first seven choices out of 10, coming from that category.

    Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) senior VP Rajeev Bodas credited the CEAT UTT for the rise in the rankings of Indian players over the past year. “We have seen players’ rankings rise by 15-16 spots. For the first time in the history of Indian table tennis, we even had a player who went on to become World No 1 (Manav Thakkar in under-18 category; picked by the Challengers). Now, the TTFI and our players are viewed with a lot more respect on the world stage,” he said.

    “The CEAT UTT is the only league of this kind in the world and the TTFI is fully behind them, providing all assistance for the conduct of the league in a professional manner,” he added.

    The six franchises had to pick four foreign and four Indians each from six different categories (Indian male seniors, Indian male youth, Indian female seniors, Indian female youth, foreign male and foreign female) to ensure an exciting set of matches in each tie. The CEAT UTT commences in Pune from 14 June.

    The teams had the option of retaining one Indian player before the draft pick, and Falcons TTC and Dabang Smashers chose to hold on to Sanil Shetty and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan respectively. In all, 50 were in the pool for the franchises to pick their eight-member squads.

    The highest ranked foreign players Frenchman Simon Gauzy (World No 8) and Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi Kem (World No 11) were picked by Challengers and RP-SG Mavericks respectively. The youngest Olympian in the fray, Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico, went to Dabang Smashers.

    11Sports chairperson Vita Dani expressed her delight at the turnout of players for the second season. “Almost 50 per cent who took part in the inaugural season are back for the second season,” she pointed out. “This season will feature 25 Olympians, players of 19 different nationalities, 19 national champions and 17 No 1 ranked players. We are really proud that exciting talent from around the world is taking part this season,” she added.

    India’s top players Manika Batra (World No 66), Mouma Das (No 71) and Harmeet Desai (No 66) went to Dabang Smashers, RP-SG Mavericks, RP-SG Mavericks and Maharashtra United respectively.

    The league takes place at Pune’s Balewadi Indoor Stadium from 14-19 June 2018 before heading to Delhi’s Thyagaraj stadium from 20-25 June 2018. The final leg of the tournament will be played at Kolkata’s Netaji Indoor Stadium from 26 June to 1 July 2018.

    CEAT-UTT SEASON 2 SQUADS

    Challengers: Men: Simon Gauzy (France), Manav Thakkar, Tiago Apolonia (Portugal), Arjun Ghosh. Women: Lee Ho Ching (Hong Kong), Georgina Pota (Hungary), Divya Deshpande, Prapti Sen.

    Dabang Smashers T.T.C: Men: Gnanasekaran Sathiyan, Yoshida Masaki (Japan), Sanish Ambekar, Cedric Nuytinck (Belgium). Women: Sakura Mori (Japan), Manika Batra, Adriana Diaz (Puerto Rico), Archana Kamath.

    Falcons TTC: Men: Sanil Shetty, Liam Pitchford (Eng), Alvaro Robles (ESP), Ronit Bhanja. Women: Bernadette Szocs (Romania), Matilda Ekholm (Sweden), Sutirtha Mukherjee, Priyadarshini Das.

    Maharashtra United: Men: Kristian Karlsson (Sweden), Amalraj Anthony, Joao Monteiro (Portugal), Utkarsh Gupta. Women: Elizabeta Samara (Romania), Madhurika Patkar, Lily Zhang (USA), Selena Selvakumar.

    RP-SG Mavericks: Men: Mattias Karlsson (Sweden), Harmeet Desai, Kou Lei (Ukraine), Siddhesh Pande. Women: Doo Hoi Kem (Hong Kong), Ayhika Mukherjee, Mouma Das, Sabine Winter (Germany).

    Yodhas: Men: Chuang Chih-Yuan(Chinese Taipei), Achanta Sharath Kamal, Aruna Quadri (Nigeria), Ravindra Kotiyan. Women: Sofia Polcanova (Austria), Hana Matelova (Czech Republic), Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, Sreeja Akula

    Also Read:

    Regulatory hurdles prompt Star to telecast IPL’s Kannada feed on Star Suvarna Plus

    Hotstar launches AdServe to empower advertisers

    Star India bags production rights for IPL 2018

  • iProspect co-sponsored team Shazé is UTT runner-up

    MUMBAI: Shazé Challengers, the table tennis team owned by DAN Performance Group CEO Vivek Bhargava and co-sponsored by iProspect, were announced as the runners-up of Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) as Falcons TTC beat Shazé Challengers 14-9 to bag the inaugural UTT title.

    The finale between Shazé Challengers and Falcons TTC on Sunday evening at the NSCI stadium in Mumbai proved to be an electrifying end to the inaugural season.

    Some of the star players in Shazé Challengers include Han Ying (World Ranking 6), Petrissa Solja (World Ranking 13), Andrej Gacina (World Ranking 18), Li Ping (World Ranking 26) and Soumyajit Ghosh (Youngest National Champion and Qualifier for London Olympics) along with India coach A Muralidhara Rao and Foreign coach Elena Timina from Netherlands.

    The team went from strength to strength at every stage of the competition, climbing up steadily to the finals. Shazé Challengers won four out of the five league matches and German paddler Han Ying remained undefeated all through the league till the last match.

    Shazé Challengers quick statistics:

    Total games: 181. Games won: 96. Total matches: 61. Matches won: 32

    Supersavers: 186. Total ties: 7. Total points: 1629. Service points won: 833. Lucky points: 41.

    Bhargava said, “We have some of the best Table Tennis players and coaches – both domestic and foreign – in the world. They have given it everything they have and shone throughout the league. ”

    Bhargava has been a medallist in the last two national tournaments in the 40-plus category. He has helped set up and run a table tennis academy at Elphinstone Road, Mumbai.

  • Elena Timina & A Muralidhara coaching UTT teams

    MUMBAI: With renowned coach Elena Timina, who masterminded two Gold medals and one Silver medal for the Dutch side in the European Championships, bringing tactical awareness to the fore and the team backed by domestic coach A Muralidhara’s fast experience, Shaze Challengers have the potential to pose a serious ‘challenge’ to the teams vying for top honours at the inaugural edition of CEAT UTT slated to begin on 13 July in Chennai.

    The Shaze Challengers features rising star Manav Thakkar along with Soumyajit Ghosh. While Manav at 17 is the youngest male Indian star in the CEAT UTT, 24-year-old Soumyajit has already participated in two Olympics, London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.

    After the positive impact of India Open 2017 in New Delhi in February 2017, Ultimate Table Tennis, developed by 11Even Sports, aims to take the sport of table tennis to greater heights.

    In the Indian Women’s category, the Challengers have another 17-year-old in Moumita Dutta. ‘Mou’ as she’s fondly called, displays an aggressive style of play. The right-hander also has 3 Gold medals in the Iran Open under her belt. Complimenting Moumita Dutta’s prodigious talent will be veteran Mouma Das. At 33, Das has been monumental figure in the Indian table tennis circles.

    The Challengers will look at her in the hopes of winning the inaugural UTT edition, and in the Arjuna Awardee, they have reliable shoulders to depend on. “We have some exceptional talent in our team with young guns who are eager to prove their might in front of home crowd. We have picked the team with a deliberate effort to keep the team youthful with also some players who bring great experience to the team. We are geared up for the start and we are confident of some exciting performances,” expressed team coach A Muralidhara, who spearheads the highly successful SDAT-AKG Academy in Chennai which has churned out gifted players including the famous Achanta Sharath Kamal.

    In Andrej Gacina and Li Ping, the Challengers have a formidable duo to lead the challenge. Both aged 31, have the potential to take their side to the CEAT UTT crown. Li Ping represents Qatar in the international circuit and was the crowned winner in the Mixed Doubles category at the 2009 World Table Tennis Championship. Croat Andrej Gacina has notably bagged first position at the European Championship in the Doubles Category as well as second position in the team event.

    As far as the international women players are concerned, the Challengers will believe they have the strongest pairing. Their first two Draft picks – Han Ying and Petrissa Solja are a force to reckon with. In Ying, the Challengers can boast of the highest ranked female player in the league. Ying along with Solja, represent Germany at an international level. And while Ying prefers a more defensive approach, Solja is famed for the attacking flair she brings to the table.

    Shaze Challengers Match Schedule:
    July 14th – vs Dabang Smashers TTC
    July 17th – vs Oilmax-Stag Yoddha
    July 21st – vs Falcons TTC
    July 24th – vs DHFL Maharashtra United
    July 27th – vs RP-SG Mavericks

  • Star Sports launches UTT campaign with promo featuring top paddlers

    MUMBAI: Star Sports has launched a unique marketing campaign to build a base for its maiden season of Ultimate Table Tennis(UTT) starting 13 July.

    Star Sports has launched a promo of the campaign, planned around the central thought, which is: ‘See Champions, Be Champions’. Created by Star Sports’ creative communications team, the channel has plans to shoot 3–4 more thematic films around the same idea.

    The promo, which took two days to shoot, is featuring two of the well-known Indian paddlers — Sanil Shetty and A Amalraj, who are playing for a point. Set in a room, the promo in which a man makes the ball float over air pressure of a hair dryer, and another hits the ball floating with a different ball — depicting their interest in the game. So, they decide to watch a table-tennis game featuring the two paddlers.

    Shetty and Amalraj are playing well, followed by a nice drop by Amalraj, but Shetty comes up with the unexpected shot getting the point to his tally. The promo concludes with the voiceover: ‘See Champions, Be Champions’.

    Star Sports airing its first UTT TVC and video on Star Sports as well as on its Facebook page. The first edition of UTT, which will be under way till 30 July, will see some of the world’s best table-tennis players playing in different Indian cities. A total of 48 paddlers will be a part of UTT with an equal number of Indian & foreign players.

    On the campaign, a Star Sports spokesperson told Indiantelevision.com: “The campaign and multiple renditions of the same creative thought will be used to build the awareness and heighten anticipation for the league. Table Tennis is a familiar sport in the country. However, this world-class sport is witnessed by only a few. The central thought of the campaign is to leverage the familiarity of table tennis, and showcase the sport in a new light. The campaign highlights the extraordinary skill which international players possess. The creative, therefore, is an invite to fans to check out this simple, familiar, enjoyable sport in a way we have not seen before. The focus is on the precision and skill in a familiar, ‘slice of life’ context.”

    The six franchises playing in the series are — Oilmax-Stag Yoddhas, Maharashtra United, RP-SG Mavericks, Dabang Smashers TTC, iProspect Challengers, BaySide Spinners TTC. Unlike other major sporting leagues being run in the country like IPL and ISL, UTT will have club-based franchises rather than city-based franchises.

    “Ultimate Table Tennis rediscovers the fervor for the sport in a refreshing way. It aims at showcasing Table tennis as a skill sport and break the stereotype of being a recreational sport. Through the edgy concept and striking visuals, the film celebrates the proficiency and specialised skill of table tennis players, and inspires fans to enhance their skill level by witnessing the table tennis champs. More importantly,it gives fans a flavour of the dynamic, nail-biting action that they can expect from the upcoming world-class table tennis tournament. Primarily the target audience is everyone who has played or witnessed table tennis in their surroundings, the spokesperson added.

  • Hotstar & Star Sports select2 SD, HD to telecast Ultimate Table Tennis live

    MUMBAI: Forty eight players have been shortlisted in the draft for selection for the franchises of the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) containing an equal mix of Indian and foreign players. Each franchise had to pick four Indian and four foreign players from the draft. UTT, to be held in different Indian cities from 13 July, will be telecast live on Star Sports select2 SD HD and Hotstar.

    The UTT will be hosted in Chennai (13 to 20 July) and New Delhi (21 to 26 July, with the final leg being held in Mumbai (27 to 30 July). It will have 18 matches divided into 15 leagues, two semis and one final with the price money of US$ 450,000.

    The six franchises are: BaySide Spinners TTC (owned by owned by Sameer Koticha of ASK Group), Challengers (owned by Vivek Bhargava CEO DAN Performance Group), Dabang Smashers TTC (owned by Radha Kapoor Khanna of Dolt Sports), Maharashtra United (owned by Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan of Rajesh Wadhawan Group), Olimax Stag Yoddhas (owned by Kapil Garg and Vivek Kohli) and RP-SG Mavericks (owned by Sanjiv Goenka of RP-SG Group).

    Unlike other major sporting leagues being run in the country like IPL and ISL, UTT will have club-based franchises rather than city-based franchises.

    Starting with Round 1, BaySide Spinners TTC received the rights for the first pick and went all out to sign foreign player Wu Yang (Women, World No. 12) from China. Maharashtra United then took Wong Chun Ting (Men, World No.7) from Hong Kong. Challengers pulled a thriller and picked World no. 7 in the women’s category Han Ying from Germany before Dabang Smashers TTC had the next bid and picked Marcos Freitas (Men, 16) from Portugal. Dilmax Stag Yoddhas went for Doo Hoi Kem (Women, 13) from Hong Kong followed by RP-SG Maverics who picked Stefan Fegerl (Men, 21) form Austria.

    Teams with their eight players including domestic and International players (with their rankings) are:

    BaySide Spinners

    Domestic: Sanil Shetty, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Arjun Ghosh and Priyadarshini Das.
    International: Wu Yang (China, World no. 7), Ho Ching Lee (Hong Kong, 33), Par Gerell (Sweden, 44), Liam Pitchford (England, 51)

    Challengers

    Domestic: Soumyajit Ghosh, Mouma Das, Manav Thakkar, Moumita Datta.
    International: Li Ping (Qatar, 48), Han Ying (Germany, 9), Petrissa Solja (Germany, 20), Andrej Gacina (Croatia, 38).

    Dabang Smashers TTC

    Domestic: Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, A Amalraj, Madhurika Patkar, Mousumi Paul
    International: Marcos Freitas (Portugal, 16), Melek Hu (Turkey, 15), Kou Lei (Ukraine, 24), Bilenko Tetyana (Ukraine, 56).

    Maharashtra United

    Domestic: Harmeet Desai, Krittwika Sinha Roy, Pooja Sahasrabudhe Koparkar, Ronit Bhanja.
    International: Chun Ting Wong (Hong Kong, 7), Liu Jia (Austria, 17), Fu Yu (Portugal, 35), Joao Moteira (Portugal, 49).

    Oilmax Stag Yoddhas

    Domestic: Manika Batra, Jubin Kumar, Abhishek Yadav, Selena D Selvakumar.
    International: Hoi Kem Doo (Hong Kong, 13), Panagiotis Gionis (Greece, 36), Aruna Quadri (Nigeria, 37), Polina Mikhailova (Russia, 54).

    RS-PG Mavericks

    Domestic: Sharath Kamal Achanta, Archana Girish Kamath, Birdie Boro, Amruthapushpak Shekhar.
    International: Fegerl Stefan (Austria, 21), Tiago Apolonia (Portugal, 19), Polcanova Sofia (Austria, 50) Sabina Winter (Germany, 39).