Ultimate Table Tennis biggest platform for youngsters: Kamlesh Mehta

Former Olympian and one of India's top table tennis stars of his time, Kamlesh Mehta wore a happy look as the draft for the third season of Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) took place on Thursday.

Mehta, directors of 11Sports that is the organiser of UTT, recollects his TT days when facilities and recognition were in stark contrast to today's players. He doesn't envy them, though, and is rather excited with the prospect of budding players getting a platform like UTT.

Asked how UTT has helped the young TT players, Mehta said: "Instead of me telling, it's proven. Sathiyan (Gnanasekaran) was ranked 144 in the world in the first UTT. After seasons, he is now world No. 24. The entire credit doesn't go to UTT but they all know the importance of it. There are two things that players need to rise: Aspiration and belief. UTT is an aspiration.

"There are many who want to be in the top-seven (in the country) so that they can be part of UTT. Youngsters also aim for that. Every day they practice with players whom they have only seen on TV. Staying with them for 21 days is a great experience. They can learn so many things.

"Then, monetorily, If you are a good player, money will follow. Recognition is another factor which motivates the player to do well. And UTT is able to achieve all these things. I am confident that this is the biggest platform youngsters can get," he added.

Asked what are India's chances at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics considering their good show last year in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, Mehta chose to be optimistic.

"I am a sportsperson, and I tell people to go with the intention of winning. If you ask me, in sports anything can happen. But realistically speaking, we had set our target in 2014 that 2028 is our target to be near the Olympic medal.

"It can happen earlier. We got two medals in Asian Games. Asian Games is equivalent to Olympics. One good thing is that we are moving in the right direction. Players are working very hard and you can see the results. We have got 27 Indian players who are ranked in top 100 in various categories, which is a very good achievement," he said.

Mehta, however, still feels that there is room for improvement. "We need to improve our infrastructure, we need to improve our fitness. Improve more coaches in the game. Now we see so many ex-players coming back. And that's a good thing for the game. Federation is backing us, government is backing us, private players are coming in. We are going in the right direction."

Dhanraj Choudary, official of Indian Table Tennis Federation, echoed Mehta's views. "We are trying our best that the men's team qualifies for 2020 Olympics. Most probably our team can qualify. Only 16 teams (are allowed). Ours is 11th team, (so) probably we can. Second target is our mixed doubles in Sharat (Kamal) and Manika (Batra)," said Choudhary.

Chennai pick Kamal; Kolkata go for Manika

Sharath Kamal will play for the Chennai Lions in the third season of the UTT, which will be held in New Delhi from July 25. The two other new teams in the league are U Mumba TT and Puneri Paltan Table Tennis. Manika Batra was chosen by RP-SG Mavericks Kolkata. The Dabang Delhi TTC decided to retain Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.