Ultimate Table Tennis 2024: A comprehensive guide to the tournament

IndianOil Ultimate Table Tennis UTT 2024 is back in its biggest season yet with eight teams set to compete for the coveted crown at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai The tournament will begin today and will run for the subsequent 17 days finishing with the Final scheduled on September 7Promoted by Niraj Bajaj and Vita Dani under the auspices of the Table Tennis Federation of India the tournament has been a gamechanger for Indian table tennis since its inception in 2017 and as we gear up for the Table Tennis carnival here is a complete guide to IndianOil UTT 2024Whats NewJaipur Patriots and Ahmedabad SG Pipers are set to make their debut this season marking a significant milestone as the UTT expands its roster to eight teams for the first time since its inceptionThis exciting growth means 48 talented players will be featured in the league ensuring that the fifth edition of the UTT will be more competitive and thrilling than ever before With fresh teams and global talent joining the fray this season promises to elevate the excitement and level of play in Indian table tennisAmong the 48 players featured there are 16 international stars several Olympians multiple Asian Games and Commonwealth Games medallists World Champions and National Champions in both the Junior and Senior categoriesAlso ReadWhy India struggles for global medalsTeamsAhmedabad SG PipersOwners SG Sports and Entertainment Private LimitedCoaches Francisco Santos Foreign Coach and Jay Modak Indian CoachPlayers Manush Shah Bernadette Szocs Romania Lilian Bardet France Reeth Tennison Pritha Vartikar Jash ModiPBG Bengaluru SmashersOwners Punit BalanCoaches Elena Timina Foreign Coach and Anshuman Roy Indian CoachPlayers Manika Batra Alvaro Robles Spain Lily Zhang USA Jeet Chandra Taneesha Kotecha Amalraj AnthonyChennai LionsOwners Mr S Rangarajan Chairman amp MD of Data Patterns Mrs Rekha Murthy Rangarajan Director of Data Patterns Mr GS Ravi Chief Mentor LiteMed amp Mr Vinay Chandra Principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP USCoaches Tobias Bergman Foreign Coach and Subin Kumar Indian CoachPlayers Achanta Sharath Kamal Sakura Mori Japan Jules Rolland France Poymantee Baisya Mouma Das Abhinandh PBDabang Delhi TTCOwners DOIT Sports ManagementCoaches Vesna Ojstersek Foreign Coach and Sachin Shetty Indian CoachPlayers Sathiyan G Orawan Paranang Thailand Diya Chitale Andreas Levenko Austria Yashansh Malik Lakshita NarangAthlead Goa ChallengersOwners Mr Shrinivas Dempo Chairman of the Dempo Group from Goa and Mr Vivek Bhargava CoFounder ProfitWheelCoaches Zoltan Batorfi Foreign Coach and Subhajit Saha Indian CoachPlayers Harmeet Desai Yangzi Liu Australia Yashaswini Ghorpade Sudhanshu Grover Sayali Wani Mihai Bobocica ItalyJaipur PatriotsOwners World of Krida Pvt LtdCoaches Ronald Redep Foreign Coach and Somnath Ghosh Indian CoachPlayers Cho Seungmin South Korea Suthasini Sawettabut Thailand Snehit SFR Ronit Bhanja Moumita Dutta Nithyashree ManiPuneri PaltanOwners InsureKot Sports Pvt LtdCoaches Jorg Bitzigeio Foreign Coach and Parag Agarwal Indian CoachPlayers Ayhika Mukherjee Natalia Bajor Poland Joao Monteiro Portugal Ankur Bhattacharjee Anirban Ghosh Yashini SivashankarU MumbaOwners Unilazer Ventures Pvt LtdCoaches John Murphy Foreign Coach and Anshul Garg Indian CoachPlayers Manav Thakkar Sutirtha Mukherjee Aruna Quadri Nigeria Akash Pal Kavyasree Baskar Maria Xiao SpainAlso Read Paris Olympics 2024 Dining with Federer to pep talk with Rathore Sharath Kamal lists his five best Olympic momentsFormat and RulesTournament Formata The League Stage will see all eight teams split into two groups of four for fixtureassigning purposes Each team will play five ties in the league stage three teams in their group once and two random opponents from the adjacent quartetb Teams shall play all five matches and 15 games in a tie even if one team has secured the winning eight team points in a tie in the league stage The team points won by winning each game by a team will be added to their overall tally the teamsrsquo rankings in the league table will be decided on the total team points won by each team in all league stage tiesc After the completion of the scheduled league stage there shall be a knockout stage concluding in the Final to determine the eventual winner of UTT in that season The top four teams from the league table in the season will qualify for the knockout staged The knockout stage will comprise two semifinals wherein the firstplaced team will play the fourthplaced team and the secondplaced team will face the thirdplaced teamFormat of playa Every team shall play five matches within a tie in this order menrsquos singles womenrsquos singles mixed doubles mens singles and womens singlesb Each match shall comprise three games As such each tie shall comprise 15 Gamesc Each game shall have the players competing with each other to score 11 points first meaning if scores are level at 10 each then the 11th point will be a Golden Point and shall decide the winnerd The winning team in a tie shall be decided by the number of total games won ie total team points won in the relevant tie In the league stage the team that wins eight or more games out of the 15 shall be termed as the winner of that respective tie but the tie will continue until all 15 games and five matches are played In the knockouts the first team to win eight games shall be declared the winner culminating the tie there and thene No player can play more than two matches in a tie including mixed doubles Furthermore no player can play more than one singles match in a tie However the same player can play the mixed doublesSchedule22nd August 1930 Athlead Goa Challengers vs Jaipur Patriots23rd August 1700 Puneri Paltan TT vs Ahmedabad SG Pipers23rd August 1930 Chennai Lions vs PBG Bengaluru Smashers24th August 1700 Dabang Delhi TTC vs U Mumba TT24th August 1930 Athlead Goa Challengers vs Ahmedabad SG Pipers25th August 1700 Chennai Lions vs Dabang Delhi TTC25th August 1930 U Mumba TT vs Jaipur Patriots26th August 1930 PBG Bengaluru Smashers vs Puneri Paltan TT27th August 1930 U Mumba TT vs Ahmedabad SG Pipers28th August 1930 Dabang Delhi TTC vs Athlead Goa Challengers29th August 1930 PBG Bengaluru Smashers vs Jaipur Patriots30th August 1700 Chennai Lions vs U Mumba TT30th August 1930 Dabang Delhi TTC vs Puneri Paltan TT31st August 1700 PBG Bengaluru Smashers vs Ahmedabad SG Pipers31st August 1930 Chennai Lions vs Athlead Goa Challengers1st September 1700 Puneri Paltan TT vs Jaipur Patriots1st September 1930 Dabang Delhi TTC vs PBG Bengaluru Smashers2nd September 1930 U Mumba TT vs Athlead Goa Challengers3rd September 1930 Chennai Lions vs Puneri Paltan TT4th September 1930 Jaipur Patriots vs Ahmedabad SG Pipers5th September 1930 SemiFinal 16th September 1930 SemiFinal 27th September 1930 FINALWhere To WatchBroadcast Sports18 KhelOnline Streaming JioCinema India Facebook Live Outside IndiaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed 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