The Dabang Smashers have handed over the reins of coaching the side to two experienced ex-players in the form N Ravichandran and Ilija Lupulesku. N. Ravichandran, has a wealth of knowledge that the players from the Smashers can rely on. He has been a coach for the past 23 years and was part of the National side in the Commonwealth TT Championships, where they captured 3 Gold, 6 Silver, and 7 Bronze medals. As a player, Ravichandran captured Gold medal in Mixed Doubles & a Silver medal in Men’s Doubles at the SAAF TT Championships, 1989.

Along with him, the team will have Serbian-born, Ilija Lupulesku. As a player, Ilija won the silver medal at Seoul, 1988 in the Men’s Doubles category. He has also coached the Serbian National team at the London Olympics in 2012 and at the World Championships, which were held this year. The international experience of the Serbian coach will certainly help the team to up their game.

Indian Players:

The duo of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Anthony Amalraj hail from Chennai and Polur, Tamil Nadu respectively. They use the shakehand grip and have an attacking style of play. At the age of only 24, Sathiyan has tasted success in the World Tour Belgium Open last year. At the age of 31, Anthony’s experience will be beneficial for the team. The right-hander was part of the Doubles team that led the country to a Silver medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

In Madhurika Patkar and Mousumi Paul, the Dabang Smashers have picked two female players who have vast experience in the game. Madhurika has been one of the stalwarts of table tennis in the country and brought home a Silver medal when the Commonwealth Games were held in New Delhi in 2010. She also won the National Championships this year. Mousumi Paul has also represented India with distinction having bagged the Bronze medal in the Commonwealth Championships' team event.

Foreign Players:

The foreign slots will be occupied by Kou Lei, his compatriot Bilenko Tetyana from Ukraine and Portuguese Marcos Freitas completes the set. China-born Kou Lei, adopted Ukraine as his country in 2007. Lei’s brightest performance so far came in the 2015 European Games where he claimed the Bronze medal.

Alongside him will be the left-handed Marcos Freitas. The Portuguese paddler brings with him bags of experience having participated in three Olympics – Beijing, London, Rio. Filling the foreign women category for the Smashers is 33-year-old Bilenko Tetyana. A Rafa Nadal fan, Tetyana’s career higlight came alongside Kou Lei, winning Bronze in the 2015 European games.

With players bringing quality and experience to the table in equal measure, the Dabang Smashers have a shot at glory at Ultimate Table Tennis. Watch them in action when the league takes centre-stage on July 13th.