There is an air of excitement among the Indian Table Tennis fraternity and the energy and mood is apparent among players at different levels ahead of the inaugural edition of the Ultimate Table Tennis slated to begin on July 13 in Chennai.  

I was at Indore last week where the National Ranking Tournament as well as the National Camp was underway. I had the opportunity to meet players who will be part of the UTT as well as those in the Junior and Sub Junior category and it was overwhelming to see how eager they were for the League to start. It is not just the players but also the coaches and parents who expressed their anticipation for the League to commence and this explains how vital this league can be to take Indian Table Tennis to the next level. Having witnessed how Leagues across different sports has catapulted careers of players and enhanced their abilities to become world beaters, there is a great sense of belief among coaches and parents that the Ultimate Table Tennis too will bring a similar atmosphere in the sport.   

While we have an encouraging number of paddlers representing India at the international level, barring a few players like Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai, Arjun Ghosh and Sanil Shetty who play for various clubs in Europe, very few Indian players get to interact with top international paddlers. The opportunity for others who do not play for these European clubs, meeting or playing against top international players is very limited. Utmost, they will get to play against them in one or two matches the entire year.

This will be the first time in Indian history that several players below the world ranking of 50 will be here to play a Professional League that is bound to attract great attention from those involved in the sport and outside of it. It is a great opportunity for Indian players to rub shoulders with international stars, understand their approach towards the game, learn about different techniques and their temperament over the span of 21 days through the tournament. While our elite Indian players (24 of them) who are part of the league can absorb the qualities international stars bring to the fore, this is a great opportunity even for our rising stars in the junior and sub junior categories to watch a World No.7 in men or World No.9 in women so closely and perhaps might even gain an opportunity of playing a practice match against some of them or exchange a few thoughts about the game during their stay in India.

Closely being associated with the team, 11 Sports, who have worked for over two-and-a-half years to make the UTT a reality, I personally feel this event can be a great platform to take our players to another level. This applies not just to players but also the coaches who will gain great exposure through the League, by working closely with international stars and top-quality foreign coaches. What they learn here can be passed on to a new generation of players who can pick up world-class traits at a nascent stage of their career. 

For now, UTT remains a passion project for most of us who want to see table tennis grow leaps and bounds in the country and I believe the UTT is a great step forward in achieving long-term success.

The author, Kamlesh Mehta is a former Indian international Table Tennis player, eight time national champion and Arjuna awardee who is now Director at 11Even Sports Pvt Ltd.