U Mumba TT, Jaipur Patriots
In the other semifinal, Swara Karmarkar beat Aarya Redkar 11-7, 11-10 in the decisive girls singles match to guide Kolkata ThunderBlades to a 5-3 victory over Dempo Goa Challengers.
The final will be played at 11 a.m. on Sunday, and will be streamed live on FanCode.
The results: Semifinals: U Mumba TT bt Jaipur Patriots 5-2 (Prateek Tulsani lost to Trishal Surapureddy 8-11, 11-10, 5-11; Prateek & Ananya Muralidharan bt Trishal & Shreya Dhar 11-8, 11-10, 11-10; Ananya bt Shreya 11-6).
Kolkata ThunderBlades bt Dempo Goa Challengers 5-3 (Ritvik Gupta bt Sahil Rawat 11-4, 10-11, 11-8; Ritvik & Swara Karmarkar lost to Sahil & Aarya Redkar 10-11, 11-10, 7-11; Swara bt Aarya 11-7, 11-10).
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The Hindu
01-08-2025
- The Hindu
Ankur Bhattacharjee, the table tennis prodigy with shades of Virat Kohli and Truls Moregard
His aggression at the table evokes visions of Virat Kohli. So do more than the dozen tattoos he sports. His unconventional technique reminds you of Truls Moregard, the Swede who stormed into the men's singles final at the Paris Olympics. And he worships Grand Slam winner Zhang Jike. Creating a stir But, amidst all this, there are a few who wonder whether he can translate his exploits at the junior level to the open category. The house is definitely divided on how to bill Ankur Bhattacharjee, the teenager from Kolkata who has created a stir in the world of table tennis. More than his consistent top-five Under-19 World ranking, it's his uncanny ability to force formidable opponents onto the back foot that has catapulted him to the top of 'the next big thing' ladder in Indian table tennis. The men's game in the country finds itself at a crossroads. A. Sharath Kamal — the flagbearer for two decades — has hung up his boots. Harmeet Desai and G. Sathiyan are in the latter half of their careers. Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar, the spectacled duo, have been close to cementing themselves at the top of the Indian charts. ALSO READ | Divya, the girl who could become chess queen Against this backdrop, Ankur's rise from sapling to slowly spreading banyan offers hope. His achievements at 18 have rarely been matched even by the best at this age. Unbeaten in age-group categories on the domestic circuit for three years, he has already tasted success in Senior National Ranking events. He broke into the national squad for the World Championships earlier this year. On the world circuit, Ankur — he is coached by father Anshuman; mother Kuntali is also a former paddler — is placed at No. 3. He has not left the top-10 since February 2025. Despite Ankur having excelled at various levels, many believe he is far from being the finished product. One of them is Jorg Bitzigeio, the German coach with whom Ankur spent three weeks training earlier this year. Much of the scepticism has to do with the Indian's maverick technique. While table tennis is a forehand-dominant sport, with the backhand playing the supporting role, Ankur is an exception. He covers most of the table with his backhand, producing both top-spin and rocket winners that breach even the best defence. His wrong-footed stance leaves his extreme forehand corner vulnerable, but he compensates with his ability to surprise opponents. He uses the jab effectively, imparts side-spin from various angles and is super-agile, reaching virtually every possible ball. The combination makes Ankur an effective, watchable proposition. This was on display time and again during Ultimate Table Tennis' sixth edition, where he justified the faith shown in him by his home franchise Kolkata ThunderBlades. For the second year in succession, he was among the leading Indians, accounting for fancied opponents. As a result, while Indian table tennis is divided over Ankur's ability and his backhand-oriented technique, he isn't rattled by it .'Since 2017, I have been hearing that you can't have your backhand as your main weapon. First of all, I don't think of myself as a backhand-only player. And I have been working on my game over the last two years,' Ankur told The Hindu during UTT. 'No player is perfect and everyone has a stronger flank. There is no harm in having your backhand as your strong suit, but I am working on my overall technique anyway.' The right mix For the last two years, Ankur and Anshuman have been focusing on improving his efficiency in the forehand corner without sacrificing the backhand as his USP. It's his ability to execute unimaginable backhand strokes that has drawn comparisons with Moregard. 'I have heard this a lot — rather overheard it — that he can be India's Truls, but I know I have a long way to go. Playing the men's World Championships is just the start.' Had it not been for a parental push, though, Ankur could well have followed in the footsteps of his sporting idol — Kohli. Sensing that cricket is an expensive sport even for beginners, his paddler parents directed him to a table. In less than two years after first gripping a racquet, Ankur became India No. 2 in the cadet category. There has been no looking back. Ankur's day in Kolkata, when he is not travelling the world, is consumed with table tennis. ALSO READ | Nikhat Zareen reiterates 'hunger to win medals' ahead of World Boxing Championships 'The day starts with fitness training from 8 to 10 a.m. Then a half-hour break. From 10.30 to 3 o'clock, I practise, and again in the evening from 6 to 9, I am back at the table,' he says. Mental training? 'Nothing formal yet, but I have found my own little techniques that help me.' One recent method is listening to the Hanuman Chalisa, a devotional hymn. Early in 2025, he was feeling low at the start of a WTT event in Cappadocia, Turkey. 'I wasn't playing well. Before the first match over there, I listened to it by accident and won. 'I kept on playing it before every match that week and went on to win the U-19 title, beating Benyamin Faraji [a top junior], who had entered the tournament on a high, beating a men's top-30 player in the earlier week. Since then, I play Hanuman Chalisa before every match.' It doesn't take much time to figure out that Ankur is a religious youngster. After all, his first tattoo was a depiction of 'Lord Shiva, since I am a Shiv-bhakt'. 'They have started calling me a Bengal tiger, so I recently got a tiger tattooed as well,' he says, with a sheepish smile. God-fearing and soft-spoken in general, he turns into a livewire at the table, even rubbing his opponents the wrong way. 'Being aggressive comes naturally to me. In fact, it spurs me on. Sometimes I need that adrenaline rush, so I don't mind being ultra-aggressive,' Ankur says. Perhaps it's a trait he has imbibed from Kohli. He can't choose among Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Zhang, should he be given the opportunity to meet one. 'I am in awe of all of them. When I am not playing table tennis, I am either watching cricket or a Zhang Jike match,' he says. During the IPL, when Punjab Kings checked into the same hotel as the UTT entourage, Ankur had hoped for Royal Challengers Bengaluru to join them in the final. But Kohli & Co. were in another hotel and Ankur's demanding schedule meant he could neither seek an audience with his hero nor watch him in action. Keeping it simple But he knows he has plenty of time to fulfil his wish-list of meeting the trio. And he realises that rather than trying to make it happen — or spell out his aspirations of winning an Olympic or a Commonwealth medal — he wants to keep it simple. 'All I need to do is to keep improving and working harder with every passing day,' he says. 'If I can do that, I know I will achieve much more than what I have. The goals can keep getting revised, I am only starting now. There's a long way to go.'
India Today
30-06-2025
- India Today
The Thunderblades story: How a former player is trying to revive Kolkata's table tennis scene
The Thunderblades story: How a former player is trying to revive Kolkata's table tennis sceneThe sound of two loud dhols echoed through EKA Arena in Ahmedabad every time the Kolkata Thunderblades won a point at the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) league. Rajat Kumar and Ketan Jain, the owner duo of the franchise, led the celebrations with reverberating cheers from the stands. The small indoor stadium, with the capacity of 800 people, responded with equal energy, thumping, chanting, rallying behind the the turnout, you'd never guess that this was the franchise's debut season. Ankur Bhattacharjee, the local boy, the young sensation of the team, revelled in the chants, playing an exceptional first season. Thunderblades, while they finished just outside of the top 4, took a lot of positives from their maiden run. The team, through the Ultimate Table Tennis competition, at least gave something back to Kolkata, a city that loved the sport dearly through the 2000s and this story isn't about Ankur. This is about someone who could've been Ankur, had life panned out Kumar, the part owner of Kolkata Thunderblades, was a former national-level table tennis player. Rajat, who now owns his own company, MVikas Group, told India Today in an exclusive interview about how he loved the sport, was forced to walk away from it, and then returned after a long hiatus of 15 played table tennis along with Ketan since 1995. Both of us have represented Delhi at the national level,' Rajat told India Today in an exclusive conversation. 'We always had that connection with the sport. That's what motivated us to get back in, first as sponsors for U Mumba, and now as team owners.'Their entry was part chance, part destiny. When Puneri Paltan backed out of UTT this year, Rajat and Ketan pounced on the opportunity. They bought the new franchise. And the Thunderblades were OF KOLKATA THUNDERBLADESAt the time that Rajat played table tennis, there was no way to sustain one's livelihood just through the sport, bar the elite players, of course. So, once he saw that the road was coming to an end, Rajat got into the academic side and completed his CA degree."There were not many opportunities at that time. You could open an academy, you could trade in equipment, but nothing more than that. Today, you have foreign and national leagues. Both my parents were from government service, so for me, simply playing TT was not an option," Rajat Rajat's practice flourished, he got into other things. He called back his brother who was working at Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and started their own firm, dealing in industrial products and government despite the success that his CA career and entrepreneurship brought, table tennis stayed at the back of his the opportunity arrived, Rajat got together with Ketan and bought the new franchise in UTT. In business terms, it made little sense. As per his own admission, they are not going to make any money out of this team in the next 10 years."Me and Ketan, we balance out each other. I bring the calm, he brings the dhols. I sit and bite my nails, he cheers the team, shouts loudly. This aspect has worked in building this team as well," Rajat there's no illusion here. Rajat knows this isn't a money-making venture, at least not yet.'I don't think I'll see a return for 7–10 years,' he said bluntly. 'But if we get an Olympic medal? That changes everything. Look at what happens in India when you win a medal. The government wakes up, sponsors come in, everyone wants to be associated.'He's got an eye on India's rising core: Diya Chitale, Manav Thakkar, and Manush Shah, who are ready to support the already established stars, Manika Batra and Sathiyan this group peaks at the right time, Rajat believes they can push India onto the Olympic podium.'And if that happens,' he said, 'we're good to go.'Still, he's aware of the risk.'Yes, we are losing money,' he admitted. 'But we'll accept that loss if it means the sport is growing. It's worth it.'UTT'S UNIQUE MODELRajat reveals that he was also drawn towards UTT because of the unique model that it follows. UTT, which is a franchise tournament like the IPL, doesn't follow the IPL model to the letter. Though teams, auctions, and city branding exist, the model is centralised. Players are contracted by the league and not by individual franchises. The auctions are more symbolic, done with tokens, not money, to maintain excitement while the league handles logistics and salaries.'The best part?' Rajat said. 'We don't have to worry about the operational side. That allows us to focus on building a team culture, a brand, and fan engagement.'This model, according to Rajat, is what's kept UTT alive through six seasons, when leagues in badminton, tennis, and even kabaddi have faltered or BACK TO KOLKATAFor Rajat, owning a table tennis team was never going to be just about the had to be about giving back. Especially to the city of was a table tennis stronghold in the 2000s. The sport thrived in schools, clubs, and para-athletic meets. But slowly, it faded from what the Thunderblades are trying to and his team want to start outreach programs. They want to organise small tournaments across West Bengal. The idea is to identify talent, help them get drafted into UTT, and eventually support their journey into the professional circuit.'If we can sponsor a few kids at 13 or 14, give them what we didn't have, that's a win,' Rajat FACE OF THE CITYFor now, Ankur Bhattacharjee is their in the top 100 in the world, Ankur is expected to break into the top 50 by the end of the year. He plays with flair, backed by a city desperate for a sporting identity beyond football and cricket.'This year, we've got Ankur in our team. He's only 19 and already the third-best player in India,' Rajat said. 'In 4–5 years, you'll hear his name everywhere.'advertisementBUILDING THE EXPERIENCEThe owners of the team also want to better the viewing experience for fans in whatever tournaments they are organising. At the UTT, they arranged for food packets and juices for all the fans who came to watch Kolkata's matches. This is an initiative that they have taken out of their own pockets, and they plan to keep doing that to attract crowds to the stadiums.'If fans are coming to support your team, you take care of them. Give them a memory,' Rajat said. 'You watch these games at dinner time, people come from far. You want them to feel like they were part of something.'He knows this is rare. Even in cricket and football, fans often get ignored.'I think we'll connect with local academies too. But this kind of outreach, it needs to be done centrally. One owner can't do everything.'BEYOND UTTThe Thunderblades don't want to disappear once the UTT season says the goal is to build a year-round presence, connect with state associations, sponsor tournaments, partner with local coaches. And most importantly, identify kids who can't afford to play but have the talent.'The kids we find can interact with our team, sit with them, learn from them. That kind of exposure changes your mindset,' Rajat said. 'I want Kolkata to grow. I want TT to be great in this city again.'And if one of those kids becomes the next Ankur Bhattacharjee?Then maybe, just maybe, the long bet will pay off.- Ends
The Hindu
23-06-2025
- The Hindu
Ultimate action and a golden show by young Indian paddlers
Twenty-three exciting matches. Sixteen days of power-packed action. Eight teams going all guns blazing. Two nail-biting semifinals. And a new champion — U Mumba TT. That's how the sixth edition of Ultimate Table Tennis — the franchise-based table tennis league that's getting bigger and better with every passing season ever since its post-pandemic return in 2023 — can be summed up. While the Amdavadis, traditionally more interested in the business of sport than enjoying live sport, hardly thronged to the EKA Arena, those who did returned with memories worth cherishing. After following the tournament, the paddlers, the coaching staff and the organisers from close quarters over 17 days in Ahmedabad, here is how the tournament panned out. UTT or UMTT Being a young sibling of the U Mumba outfit in the Pro Kabaddi League arena, a lot was expected of the U Mumba paddlers. But just like its kabaddi counterpart, which last won a title nine seasons ago, the five editions saw the table tennis lot earn the tag of 'underachievers.' The team led by Bernadette Szocs — the Romanian who entered UTT as the highest-ranked paddler this season — shed the tag in style. After the first-ever player auction in UTT, where U Mumba was the first to complete its squad of six players, a lot of eyebrows were raised over its choices, especially with regard to Indian male paddlers. But Szocs — with meticulous planning by coaches John Murphy and Jay Modak, assisted by Nishant Kulkarni — got the best out of every single individual to wipe off the 'under' from its tag and lead the team to glory. In fact, besides being the champion, U Mumba ended up being the only team to give at least one match to each of the six players in the squad. Having heavily relied on youngsters — with all four Indians in Akash Pal, P.B. Abhinandh, Yashaswini Ghorpade and Swastika Ghosh being either in teens or the early 20s — U Mumba banked on their zest. And Lilian Bardet, the Frenchman who was Szocs' teammate in UTT 2024, brought in the maturity of an overseas paddler to form a perfect combination that went all the way. While Szocs upped the ante when it mattered, in the big final against Jaipur Patriots, it was Yashaswini — the Bengalurean with Maharashtrian roots — that lived up to the table tennis legacy of her surname. If her becoming the first paddler to stun Fan Siqi, who became only the second Chinese paddler to be part of UTT, was an achievement in itself, Yashaswini went one step ahead in the semifinal. Trailing 7-5 against senior Krittwika Sinha Roy, she displayed exemplary control over her long-pimpled backhand to win all three games, with the third off the 59th golden point of the season, and helped U Mumba enter its maiden final. With Yashaswini playing a major role in ending Goa Challengers' title defence, it was clear that the tournament will have a new champion. And U Mumba ensured that it didn't have to wait longer to carve its name on the glittering trophy. New kids on the block For most of the last three seasons, ever since UTT switched from an eight to six-member squad format, promising Indian paddlers had to warm the bench on match days. They would be happy to be a part of the entourage and learn by training with seasoned pros, with very little — or virtually none — game-time. Season six witnessed a welcome change on that front as eight Indian paddlers made their UTT debuts over the fortnight. They were Akash Pal, Abhinandh and Swastika Ghosh (U Mumba), Divyansh Srivastava (Ahmedabad SG Pipers), Sayali Wani (Dempo Goa Challengers), Ananya Chande (Kolkata ThunderBlades), Taneesha Kotecha (PBG Pune Jaguars) and Payas Jain (Chennai Lions). The fact that most of these eight paddlers — barring Swastika, Divyansh and Ananya — had spent at least a season in UTT earlier speaks about the desperation and the desire of teams to try out new talent on the big stage. It also indicates the rising quality of young Indian talent. 'It's a great sign for Indian table tennis. The more young talent on display at UTT, the better it is. The youngsters are right up there when it comes to skills, are confident irrespective of the opponents and are fearless in their approach. It's a great sign for the future,' said Sachin Shetty, the Jaipur Patriots coach. Top Indian paddlers MIA While the promising youngsters were making a splash and some of the top global paddlers were in action, the absence of India's star paddlers was a bit of a dampener for UTT. Three of the top Indians — Manav Thakkar and the new National men's champion Manush Shah along with Commonwealth Games queen Manika Batra — did not feature in the season. With A. Sharath Kamal having hung up his boots after a glittering career, Manush and Manav — a Barodian and a Surti — could have drawn a local crowd in their home state. But both opted against registering for the auction. While the Indian table tennis corridors are abuzz with multiple theories for the bespectacled duo's decision to skip UTT 2025, the UTT organisers clarified that was only due to the clash of the tournament schedule with the duo's commitments in European leagues. Manika, on the other hand, pulled out at the last-minute due to an injury after featuring in the World Championship towards the end of the last month. It jeopardised Ahmedabad SG Pipers' season, although the lanky paddler did turn up to support the team for its inaugural match. 'It's critical for all the top Indian players to feature in UTT. It helps them raise their stature and also the tournament's,' said Sweden's Tobias Bergman, the Kolkata ThunderBlades coach. 'In my home country, and all over Europe, there is a lot of interest about UTT and if the top European players get to compete with the best from India, it will be an ideal scenario.' The fact that the trio featured in a WTT event during the UTT's latter stages also did not send a right signal to the table tennis fraternity. It will hopefully be taken care of in the seasons to come. Amending the format Despite the final qualification spot being sealed on the last day, for a league like UTT that's still trying to attract interest from general sport fans, a simpler format would augur well. At the moment, the eight teams play five league matches. Not only is it confusing for a fan trying to keep pace with the line-ups, it also creates a not-so-ideal situation for the franchises, both in terms of form and fixtures. No doubt an all-play-all format will mean there will be 28 league games instead of the existing 20, but with double-headers on most days, the three-week tournament window can be respected. While the idea can be food for thought, John Murphy, coach of U Mumba, had another suggestion. 'Instead of following the set sequence of men's singles, women's singles, mixed doubles, reverse men's singles and reverse women's singles, the team winning the toss should be allowed to choose whether to start with a male or female player,' Murphy said. 'For a team like us with Bernadette Szocs, we'd want her to open the tie. It could also prevent the final singles from always being a women's match.' If implemented, the tournament will add another dimension to the planning of the teams and may keep most matches alive till the end. Vitamin M A franchise league is nothing but a commercial product. For most non-cricket sports leagues in India, it results in the owners and the promoters bleeding to death. UTT is an exception, since it's backed by co-promoters who are passionate about the sport and not all interested in making money through the league. 'Let the franchise owners break even first. And making money is not the only objective of UTT' seems to be the motto of Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani – two of the leading industrialists who have joined hands for UTT. Thanks to its consecutive titles, Dempo Goa Challengers became the first team to enter the green on the balance sheet. Steady growth While two others are likely to break even in the next edition, Vita is pleased with the steady growth of the league in terms of numbers – both financial and in terms of viewership. At least a couple of teams, including new entrants Kolkata ThunderBlades, managed to raise in excess of ₹50 lakh through jersey sponsorships. It is a welcome sign for a relatively small-scale league like UTT. 'It will take a little time but we are moving in the right direction and quickly. For us, as league owners, our ROI is in how Indian table tennis does more than financials because we are not here to only make money. It is more important that as a country, we do well,' Vita said.
