Dabang Delhi make Diya Chitale top Indian pick at UTT Season 6 auction

Mumbai, April 15 ( IANS) Season 3 champions Chennai Lions made Chinese paddler Fan Siqi the highest-valued player at the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) auction on Tuesday, splurging 19.7 Lakh tokens to secure her services for Season 6. With players going under the hammer for the first time, India’s top-ranked national player Diya Chitale also emerged as the highest-valued Indian paddler, returning to Dabang Delhi TTC through the Right to Match (RTM) card at a value of 14.1 Lakh tokens after an intense bidding war.

Reigning champions Goa Challengers re-signed two-time title-winning captain Harmeet Desai via RTM with a bid of 14 Lakh tokens, double his base price. Season 2 winners Dabang Delhi TTC brought back Sathiyan Gnanasekaran with a successful bid of 10 Lakh tokens, making him the only player to have stayed with the same team in all six seasons.

Sreeja Akula returned to Jaipur Patriots for 11 Lakh tokens (RTM), while Ahmedabad SG Pipers swept in with a successful bid of 12 Lakh tokens for Manika Batra. Youngsters Ankur Bhattacharjee and Payas Jain were picked up by Kolkata ThunderBlades and Chennai Lions for 11.4 and 11.6 Lakh tokens, respectively, as all eight franchises prepared for the upcoming season with tailored recruitment strategies.

The franchise-based league, under the aegis of the Table Tennis Federation of India, will take place from May 29 to June 15 at the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad.

Goa paired Harmeet with his significant other Krittwika Sinha Roy along with Olympians Tiago Apolonia and Zeng Jian and youngsters Ronit Bhanja and Sayali Wani. Besides Sathiyan and Diya, Delhi added young talent Suhana Saini and Olympians Quek Izaac and Maria Xiao to round out a balanced squad.

“We’re thrilled to have Harmeet back with Goa Challengers, that was a priority going into the auction. The auction went well and we’ve built a balanced squad. Now it’s about defending the title and becoming the first team to win three consecutive titles,” said Vivek Bhargava, owner, Goa Challengers.

“I believe, Sathiyan will be leading from the front and the new signings will learn a lot from him. They will understand the togetherness that the Dabang Delhi franchise brings, that will go a long way. Together we can culminate into a winning team,” said Dabang Delhi CEO Prashant Mishra.

Debutants Kolkata ThunderBlades landed Adriana Diaz for 19.3 Lakh tokens and paired her with experienced Nigerian paddler Quadri Aruna, picked at his base price of 11 Lakh tokens. Nineteen-year-old Ankur rounded out an all-star Kolkata attack. Chennai Lions paired Siqi with former U-17 World No. 1 Payas and Kazakhtan’s Kirill Gerassimenko.

“We went into the auction targeting Adriana, Aruna, Ankur, Selena (Selvakumar), and others — and we’ve ended up with exactly the team we wanted,” said Kolkata ThunderBlades’ team director, Anshul Garg.

“The auction was a very immersive experience! It kept all the teams on their toes and there was a sense of excitement and anxiety! I thoroughly enjoyed the process,” said GS Ravi, owner, Chennai Lions.

PBG Pune Jaguars secured Spanish ace Alvaro Robles for 18.1 Lakh tokens, making him the third-highest bid of the day. Pune also used their RTM card to retain Nashik-based rising talent Taneesha Kotecha.

“We’re content with the team we’ve got. We are happy to get Alvaro back, who played exceptionally well. With RTM we’re happy to get Taneesha back into the team as well as Dina, Reeth, Mudit, and Anirban,” said Pune Jaguars’ owner, Punit Balan.

U Mumba TT invested in top domestic talent, picking up Yashaswini Ghorpade for 8.6 lakh tokens and bringing in PB Abhinandh, alongside seasoned international stars Bernadette Szocs and Lilian Bardet.

“We are really happy to have Akash Pal back with us. Lilian (Bardet), too, is a very exciting talent. When you look at what we’ve got on the female front, we have a stellar line up with two strong Indian players and Bernadette Szocs. We’ve also got Abhinandh with us, one of the top U-19 stars of Indian TT,” said U Mumba CEO, Suhail Chandhok.

Ahmedabad SG Pipers added star power with Manika, uniting her with WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025 quarter-finalist Snehit Suravajjula. The home side also brought in experienced foreign paddlers Ricardo Walther and Giorgia Piccolin.

“I'm thrilled with the players we've secured, especially with the acquisition of Manika Batra, who is the face of Indian Table Tennis. This is a well-balanced team with the firepower and strategy to compete at the highest level. We are confident of winning the IndianOil UTT trophy on home turf!” said Rohan Gupta, owner, Ahmedabad SG Pipers.

Jaipur Patriots used their RTM card to retain WTT Contender Lagos 2024 winner Sreeja, while also signing USA’s Kanak Jha and the Netherlands’ Britt Eerland as their foreign players. Jeet Chandra, Pritha Vartikar, and Yashansh Malik rounded out the six-member squad.

“We are gunning for glory and couldn’t have asked for a better team. Last time we had Sreeja but her injury was unfortunate however this time she is back home and we are looking forward to each and every one showcasing their best on field,” said Parina Parekh, World of Krida, owner of Jaipur Patriots.

All eight teams will play five league stage matches, while the top four will qualify for the semi-finals.

UTT Season 6 Teams

Ahmedabad SG Pipers: Manika Batra – 12 Lakh tokens, Ricardo Walther – 11.6 Lakh tokens, Snehit Suravajjula – 9.9 Lakh tokens, Giorgia Piccolin – 7 Lakh tokens, Divyansh Srivastava – 4 Lakh tokens, Yashini Sivashankar – 2 Lakh tokens

Chennai Lions: Fan Siqi (China) – 19.7 Lakh tokens, Kirill Gerassimenko (Kazakhstan) – 12.4 Lakh tokens, Payas Jain – 11.6 Lakh tokens, Sudhanshu Grover – 2 Lakh tokens, Jennifer Varghese – 2 Lakh tokens, Nikhat Banu – 2 Lakh tokens

Dabang Delhi TTC: Diya Chitale – 14.1 Lakh tokens (RTM), Maria Xiao (Spain) – 12.6 Lakh tokens, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran – 10 Lakh tokens, Quek Izaac (Singapore) – 7 Lakh tokens, Suhana Saini – 2.3 Lakh tokens, Sourav Saha – 2.1 Lakh tokens

Goa Challengers TTC: Zeng Jian (Singapore) – 17.2 Lakh tokens, Harmeet Desai – 14 Lakh tokens (RTM), Tiago Apolonia (Portugal) – 7 Lakh tokens, Ronit Bhanja – 4 Lakh tokens, Krittwika Sinha Roy – 4 Lakh tokens, Sayali Wani – 3.7 Lakh tokens

Jaipur Patriots: Britt Eerland (Netherlands) – 11.1 Lakh tokens, Kanak Jha (USA) – 11 Lakh tokens, Sreeja Akula – 11 Lakh tokens (RTM), Jeet Chandra – 5.7 Lakh tokens, Pritha Vartikar – 2.4 Lakh tokens, Yashansh Malik – 2 Lakh tokens

Kolkata ThunderBlades: Adriana Diaz (Puerto Rico) – 19.3 Lakh tokens, Aruna Quadri (Nigeria) – 11 Lakh tokens, Ankur Bhattacharjee – 11.4 Lakh tokens (RTM), Selena Selvakumar – 3.9 Lakh tokens, Ananya Chande – 2 Lakh tokens, Deepit Patil – 2 Lakh tokens

U Mumba TT: Bernadette Szocs (Romania) – 15.3 Lakh tokens, Lilian Bardet (France) – 11.1 Lakh tokens, Yashaswini Ghorpade – 8.6 Lakh tokens, Swastika Ghosh – 7 Lakh tokens, Akash Pal – 4 Lakh tokens (RTM), Abhinandh PB – 2.1 Lakh tokens

PBG Pune Jaguars: Alvaro Robles (Spain) – 18.1 Lakh tokens, Dina Meshref (Egypt) – 11 Lakh tokens, Taneesha Kotecha – 4 Lakh tokens (RTM), Anirban Ghosh – 4 Lakh tokens

--IANS

aaa/