Rich field to vie for top honours
World no. 8 and France’s top player Simon Gauzy, Chinese Taipei’s Chih Yuan Chuang and ITTF Europe’s top 16 women’s winner Bernadette Szocs are the top draws in a star- studded field for the second edition of the Ceat UTT, that will be held from June 14. Twenty- four premier players from across the world have signed up to compete in the 18day long event, approved by the Table Tennis Federation of India, organisers said.
The 28- strong Indian pool will include world no. 49 Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and eight- time national champion Achanta Sharath Kamal.
Gauzy has shown form all season long, finishing second at the Australia Open and picking up a bronze medal at the Europe Top 16 event and has a win over world no. 1 Timo Boll.
Apart from Bernadette Szocs of Romania, 17- year- old Adriana Diaz from Puerto Rico is making waves with her wins on the TT circuit.
Other notable names include world no. 11 Doo Hoi Kem from Hong Kong and 2017 India Open winner Sakura Mori from Japan. Stars making a return for the second edition of the Ceat UTT include Aruna Quadri, Joao Monteiro, Kou Lei, Liam Pitchford, Tiago Apolonia, Doo Hoi Kem, Lee Ho Ching, Sabine Winter and Sofia Polcanova.
In addition Sathiyan and Sharath Kamal, Sanil Shetty, Soumyajit Ghosh, Anthony Amalraj and Harmeet Desai will be seen in actiom.
World no. 2 junior paddler ( U18), Manav Thakkar will be back for his second season following his win in the Slovenia Junior and Cadet Open, as well as the India Junior and Cadet Open 2017 in the U- 18 category. Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar and national champion Sutirtha Mukherjee will lead the list of 14 Indians.
They will be joined by Arjuna Awardee Mouma Das who created history along with Manika Batra in Germany by becoming the first Indian pair to reach the
Twenty- four premier players from across the world have signed up to compete in the 18- day long event
quarter- finals of the World Table Tennis Championships.
The event comprises of six franchisees with eight players — four men and four women — an equal mix of overseas and Indian players, apart from a foreign and an Indian coach, in each team.