Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT), today concluded the draft for selecting coaches for each franchise in the presence of consulting agency, Ernst & Young. A total of twelve coaches- equal mix of Indian and foreign coaches- were part of the draft system. Each franchise had to pick one Indian and foreign coach from the draft.

RP-SG Mavericks received the rights for the first pick and went all out to sign foreign Coach, Peter Engel (Germany) who has been a Head Coach of Netherlands from 1994-1999. DHFL Maharashtra United then got Ferenc Karsai (Hungary) who has been the Men’s national coach for three countries- Austria, Canada and Belgium. Falcons TTC pulled a thriller and picked the first Indian Coach, Soumyadeep Roy before Oilmax Stag Yoddhas had the next bid and picked Indian Coach Sandeep Gupta. Dabang Smashers T.T.C picked Ilija Lupulesku (USA) and the final franchise, Challengers, opting for one of the two female foreign coaches, Elena Timina (Netherlands) who is the current coach of Dutch women TT team.

The second round began in a reverse order- Challengers got A. Muralidhara Rao, Dabang Smashers T.T.C went for N Ravichandran, Oilmax Stag Yoddhas going for their foreign Coach pick in Vesna Ojstersek (Slovenia) who has coached the Slovenian women national team and runs her own company Point 21. Falcons TTC picked their foreign coach, Francisco Santos who has been the coach of Portugal’s men team. DHFL Maharashtra United picked Arup Basak before the Draft came to end with RP-SG group picking Sachin Shetty in their team.

RP-SG Group tried playing the Instant Trade card with DHFL Maharashtra United for their Indian Coach Arup Basak but the team who also compete against each other in Indian Super League wouldn’t budge and brought an end to the Coach Draft for the inaugural edition of UTT.

The inaugural season will be played from July 13 to July 30, 2017 in three different cities - Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. The first two legs will be held in Chennai and Delhi before UTT shifts base to Mumbai for the Finale. Each franchise will comprise of a combination of overseas and Indian players- four men and four women.

About Ultimate Table Tennis:

India's newest franchise sports league Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) is set for its inaugural season in July 2017 to promote and enhance the sport of table tennis in the country. After the positive impact of India Open 2017, held in New Delhi in February 2017, Ultimate Table Tennis aims to take the sport of table tennis to greater heights. UTT is owned and developed by 11Even Sports Private Limited (ESPL), a Mumbai based company exclusively formed for the promotion and development of the game of Table Tennis in India. UTT will strive to be a world class league that inspires the youth, entertains and engages fans, drives development at grassroots level and delivers value to all stakeholders.